Course Description

Science Research Program – Grades 9, 10, 11, 12


Full Year – Level H: Incoming freshman and sophomore students must apply for admission to this program in January of the prior academic year. Acceptance into the program will be based on a science teacher recommendation, a written essay, and excellent academic grades.


This is an ongoing program that is taken in conjunction with the student’s regular science course. There are several tiers to the program. During Year 1 students learn the components of scientific research including the scientific method and apply these concepts in various settings including designing and conducting an authentic science research project and communicating results by participation in at least one local science fair. Students also explore various applications of science topics through field trips, guest speakers and class projects. Advanced students (Years 2-4) select their science research topic, locate an out-of-school mentor (either in industry or at a local university) and compete in a variety of science fairs including the CT State Science Fair, Southern CT Invitational Science and Engineering Fair (SCSEF) and the CT Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (CT JSHS). Advanced students pursue their selected research in depth, perform statistical analysis and compete at a number of local and/or national science fairs and competitions. In Years 2, 3, and 4 students are grouped together in a non-traditional classroom setting and are required to meet individually outside of class with their Science Research Instructor biweekly to review individual goals and assess progress. All students participate in the culminating annual activity, Amity’s Science Symposium.


Monday, February 10, 2014

2014 SCSEF


Please reflect on the following (each question in detail):

1.  What was your overall impression of the SCISEF Fair? Specifically, what things did you enjoy about the fair? Did the fair meet your expectations? In what ways was it similar or different to what you anticipated or experienced in the past?

2.  What was the judging process like? Were the judges fair and helpful?

3.  What was the most helpful comment from the Judges? Least helpful?

4.  How was the food (breakfast and lunch)?

5. Did you enjoy the Keynote presentation by David Pogue? Explain.

6. In what way(s) do you think the Mock Science Fair helped prepare you for the fair?

7. Did you learn anything new about your project? If so, what can you do to improve it for the next fair? 


8. Did you have time to view other student projects? Which project(s) left a lasting impression? why?

8. Did you talk to students from other schools? Explain.

9. What can we do to better prepare students for upcoming science fairs, if anything?


10. Overall on a scale of 1 (terrible) to 5 (amazing) --> How enjoyable was your SCSEF experience?


Thank you

76 comments:

  1. 1. I enjoyed SCISEF. I thought it was a great educational experience. The fair met my expectations. It was quite similar to last year. Newtown did a great job hosting the fair.

    2. The judging process was similar to last year. Unfortunately, one group of judges did not look at our poster before I started presenting. Also, one set of judges arrived 15 minutes early, so we were unprepared.

    3. One set of our judges told us what they liked and disliked about our presentation. We learned a lot from their comments and suggestions. The least helpful comment was when a judge refused to accept the established fact that continuous heart pumps exist and are used frequently.

    4.Breakfast was good but lunch was pretty bad...last year was much better

    5. The keynote speaker was great! He was fun and engaging. However, he did not have a lesson or concluding statement to closed his speech.

    6. The Mock Science Fair was great for practicing the presentation and having classmates comment on the poster.

    7. I learned a little about sepsis, which can be integrated into my larger.

    8. Because of the poster setup layout, I did not speak to kids from other schools. All of the surrounding posters were from Amity.

    9. Nothing

    10. 3, because of the subjective judging

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  2. 1.I had a good time at SCSEF this year. It seemed slightly smaller than last year (not sure why). I really enjoyed the time with the scires students, looking at other schools projects, and giving my presentation to the judges. The fair, like last year did meet my expectations. The only difference during the actual fair was that this year, my judges were back to back compared to last year where they were more spread out. Finally, I enjoyed having SCSEF at our school because I was more comfortable there.
    2. The judges were very helpful this year. They gave me some good ideas and the were much more laid back then I thought they would be. I was nervous at first because I didn't have much practice, but they seemed very understanding and helpful during my presentation.

    3. The most helpful comment from the judges was to collect the data from both the practice trials and the regular trials. I don't believe that I have received a comment that was not helpful.

    4. I did not have lunch or breakfast there, but the food looked good and the coffee and tea was much appreciated :)

    5. I thought that the Keynote speaker was very entertaining this year. I thought his presentation was interesting and also included the audience so that we would not become bored. I really enjoyed how there were video clips that he showed us because it helped explain things better and keep the audience interested.

    6. Although we didn't have much time for the mock science fair, it helped me prepare my presentation, pinpoint things that I needed to work on, and become more confident with my speech.

    7. I still need to collect data, so the judges gave me ideas about how to persuade participants to participate, they also gave me some ideas about how to make the data more reliable.

    8.I did view a few posters, but none of them were very interesting and none of them gave me a lasting impression.

    8. I didn't talk to any students from other schools.

    9. Have more time for the mock science fair!!!!!

    10. 3.5

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  3. 1. What was your overall impression of the SCISEF Fair? Specifically, what things did you enjoy about the fair? Did the fair meet your expectations? In what ways was it similar or different to what you anticipated or experienced in the past?
    Overall, SCSEF was a very good experience. I enjoyed the judges and their feedback (and mine were pretty punctual, which was a plus). It definitely met my expectations, and it was very similar to last year’s SCSEF. One major difference, though, is that it seemed more organized and seamless this year.

    2. What was the judging process like? Were the judges fair and helpful?
    The judges were very helpful—they asked some very technical questions, but overall they weren’t too harsh and seemed to be very focused on the project I was presenting.

    3. What was the most helpful comment from the Judges? Least helpful?
    The most helpful comment from the judges was from someone who actually worked at a lab at Yale. She identified some outside factors that could have influenced the regulation of an enzyme my project focused on. The least helpful were from a judge who kept repeating questions that a judge had already asked except a couple of minutes later.

    4. How was the food (breakfast and lunch)?
    The food was good. Breakfast was better than lunch, because there was more variety.

    5. Did you enjoy the Keynote presentation by David Pogue? Explain.
    The Keynote presentation was great! David Pogue made it very interesting and funny and seemed to engage the entire audience. The only criticism is that it was all about his shows, rather than anything that specifically related to us at the fair.

    6. In what way(s) do you think the Mock Science Fair helped prepare you for the fair?
    The Mock Science Fair helped cement in my mind my strengths and weaknesses, which was helpful because I could change anything I may have been weak on before the actual fair. The feedback was greatly appreciated.

    7. Did you learn anything new about your project? If so, what can you do to improve it for the next fair?
    For the next fair I will add more statistical analysis to my project.

    8. Did you have time to view other student projects? Which project(s) left a lasting impression? why?
    I didn’t really have a chance to look at other student’s projects, but I noticed that there was one about the cretaceous period, why left an impression because I wondered how data could be collected from that and, if it was focusing on the fossils from that time, how the student got access to those materials.

    9. Did you talk to students from other schools? Explain.
    I didn’t really get a chance to talk to students from other schools. I will definitely try to do that for next year.

    10. What can we do to better prepare students for upcoming science fairs, if anything?
    I think it might be good to start the mock science fair/round robin process a little bit earlier, so that in case we have a bunch of snow days like this year, we still have enough time to fully practice.

    11. Overall on a scale of 1 (terrible) to 5 (amazing) --> How enjoyable was your SCSEF experience?
    Overall, SCSEF was at about a 4. It was a very good experience, with only minor things that could have been tweaked.
    -Arpita J

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  4. Vinnie Silverman
    1. Overall, the science fair was a positive experience. It gave me good practice for any future poster presentations. Like last SCISEF, the fair met and exceeded my expectations.
    2. The judges came on time and were very helpful. They asked a lot of helpful questions and also gave lots of general feedback as well.
    3. The most helpful comment from a judge that I got was one from my first set of judges, who explained a method of data analysis that I had never heard of and would work well with the data I had collected. The least helpful comments were the ones addressing points that I had already talked to the judges about.
    4. I didn't eat at the venue, but I heard that the food was around average.
    5. I definitely enjoyed the keynote presentation. David Pogue was engaging, funny, and knew his audience well. The presentation he prepared was very easy to watch and left a positive impression overall.
    6.Because of snow, I didn't get to participate in the mock science fair. However, I think the extra practice presentations would have improved my presentation at the fair.
    7.A few of the judges discussed data analysis in-depth with me, an element of my project that was relatively weak. In future presentations, I would look into different methods of data analysis in addition to the ones I used.
    8. I didn't have time to view many other projects, but one that definitely made a lasting impression was a research proposal that planned to test the effects of cocaine on mice.
    9. I feel like the students at this science fair were very well prepared. Having been to SCISEF last year as well, I already knew what to expect, but having the Mock Science Fair moved due to scheduling probably hindered my presentation.
    10. I would give this SCISEF a 4/5, due to minor issues that didn't leave that large of an impression anyway.

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  5. 1. What was your overall impression of the SCISEF Fair? Specifically, what things did you enjoy about the fair? Did the fair meet your expectations? In what ways was it similar or different to what you anticipated or experienced in the past?
    The SCISEF fair was very enjoyable an interesting. It was great to see all the new projects that participants had entered, and how they can make our lives more advanced.

    2. What was the judging process like? Were the judges fair and helpful? The judges were pretty good. Some were able to give me feedback and some others just didn’t help at all. Overall, the judges were helpful and gave me some good advice.

    3. What was the most helpful comment from the Judges? Least helpful? I didn’t get many comments from the judges. The only one that I think that helped was that I should only move over one decimal place instead of two when I am recording my measurements.

    4. How was the food (breakfast and lunch)? The breakfast was amazing. The lunch was okay. The food for breakfast and lunch should stay the same.

    5. Did you enjoy the Keynote presentation by David Pogue? Explain. He was hilarious. Instead of being boring and talking about just science, he talked all about his life and interesting facts of the people of the US. The funniest one was that he found that 40% of people think that we existed while dinosaurs did as well.

    6. In what way(s) do you think the Mock Science Fair helped prepare you for the fair? Just by letting us practice our presenting in front of an audience. Calmed me down after I saw it was easy.

    7. Did you learn anything new about your project? If so, what can you do to improve it for the next fair? I learned that when I would record my measurements, only go over one decimal place instead of two. This is related to significant figures.

    8. Did you have time to view other student projects? Which project(s) left a lasting impression? why? The wireless LVAD project left a lasting impression. LVADs are very bulky and heavy, but if you can create a wireless one, this could change the world of cardiothoracics. The other one that caught my eye was the MRI-Laser based surgery to treat malignant brain tumors. This could be revolutionary in the world of Neurology, and if this breaks through, then neurosurgeons could still operate on the inoperable tumors if necessary.

    8. Did you talk to students from other schools? Explain. I didn’t get time to talk to students from other schools. I mostly hung out with my friends from Amity.

    9. What can we do to better prepare students for upcoming science fairs, if anything? Tell them what questions they can prepare for that may come from the judges. And if someone needs to do more past research, they may should be told to make sure they know what they are talking about.

    10. Overall on a scale of 1 (terrible) to 5 (amazing) --> How enjoyable was your SCSEF experience? Mine was a 4. It was great overall, except for the lunch. Once people are done looking at the other projects, they need something to entertain them, other than their phones and other electronic devices.

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  6. Overall, I enjoyed the science fair and felt that it was a positive experience. The fair was similar to what I had expected, however it was more "laid back" than I would expect it to be. During the judging process, my judges actually came slightly late in both rounds. Although at first I was nervous it ended up being fine. The judging process I felt was rather fair, however in any situation with judging it can always be subjective. The judges were rather helpful, and I enjoyed being able to share my work and research with others. The most helpful comment from the judges was that I should increase my subject size. Probably the least helpful comment from the judges was that I should try to find the different foods which every person ate during every meal. I the food for breakfast looked good, but I was not hungry at this time so I just had orange juice. Moreover, I did not enjoy the food during lunch. I enjoyed listening to David Pogue speak. I thought that it was interesting because we had recently watched his videos during class, so I had a better understanding of what he was referring to. The mock science fair was helpful because it gave us an idea of what the judging process was like and also what the judges would be looking for in our presentations. I learned that to improve my project I should increase my participant number, and also find a way to better validate and quantify my data. I had time to look at other students projects. One project which I found interesting was a girl who did a project on the sleeping habits of teenagers and their academic performance. Between judging time, some students from other schools came to view my project and I was able to discuss with them my own project. I think that to better prepare students for the science fair, more of an emphasis should be placed on the rubric which we are graded on and making sure that students have all aspects of the rubric. Overall, on a scale of 1-5, I would probably give my experience of SCSEF a 3.5.

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  7. 1. What was your overall impression of the SCISEF Fair? Specifically, what things did you enjoy about the fair? Did the fair meet your expectations? In what ways was it similar or different to what you anticipated or experienced in the past?
    The SCISEF fair was very interesting and fun. I really enjoyed it and had a lot of exiting moments. I got very good constructive criticism and ideas for the future. The fair met my expectations and it was what I expected. This was similar to my science fair in 6th grade besides the judging part, people just came and looked at my project.
    2. What was the judging process like? Were the judges fair and helpful?
    Nerve racking, I didn’t know what they were going to be like, such as some could not hear me screaming over everyone! They should take a test in eyesight and hearing before they should judge. Other than this, they were very helpful.
    3. What was the most helpful comment from the Judges? Least helpful?
    The judges gave me great ideas to do in the future such as testing mold at different temperatures or in different environments. The least helpful comment was trying to get me to see what kind of mold was on the bread because mold is mold; you’re not going to eat it!
    4. How was the food (breakfast and lunch)?
    Breakfast was delicious, but lunch was cheesy. Lunch was not too good except the chips. The breakfast was so good though because it had lots of variation.
    5. Did you enjoy the Keynote presentation by David Pogue? Explain.
    The keynote presentation was hilarious but a little inappropriate because I know that some people’s younger siblings came and should not hear these things. Other than that, he was very good, it was good that we saw some of his nova presentations and knew a little bit about him before he presented.
    6. In what way(s) do you think the Mock Science Fair helped prepare you for the fair?
    This helped me practice speaking and Rohan helped me find out what I was supposed to do during the fair.
    7. Did you learn anything new about your project? If so, what can you do to improve it for the next fair?
    I learned to keep things more constant and to implement different things while speaking. I also learned what I can do for future projects.
    8. Did you have time to view other student projects? Which project(s) left a lasting impression? why?
    I viewed some other projects that were very interesting such as the project about lie detecting. I learned that I cannot find who is lying or not. It takes a lot of practice and you can’t learn it in a few minutes.
    8. Did you talk to students from other schools? Explain.
    No, I was just with my friends.
    9. What can we do to better prepare students for upcoming science fairs, if anything?
    We should have two mock science fairs to insure that we are ready to read and present our projects. Also, we could invite judges(parents) in to have our own little test science fair to get ready.
    10. Overall on a scale of 1 (terrible) to 5 (amazing) --> How enjoyable was your SCSEF experience?
    4.75, very enjoyable!

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  8. I did not attend the science fair because I was at an indoor softball tournament in Lake George, New York with my softball team, the Seymour Tradition. However, before the science fair I presented my project to Katie Handler because we were not able to have the mock science fair due to snow days.

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  9. I think the science fair went very well this past Saturday. When we got there, the size of the room where the presentations were surprised because of how small it seemed at first. I had been expecting a very big room, but the gym seemed kind of small, however when I went to look at all the projects I realized just how many there were.
    I was scheduled to be judged in the first and third round of judges, so at 10am and 11am. My first group of judges was very nice and friendly. They had me talk about my project and then asked me questions on what I took into consideration when developing my procedure and what my values in my conclusion actually meant. My second group of judges were much more serious and asked more questions with "Why?". One of the judges had researched in my field of study which was a bit more stressful.
    The judges helped try to give feedback on how to counterbalance the errors that I mentioned in my presentation. They suggested factors that I should take into account and see how they affected my results such as if they were used to working to music or not and if there was a positive correlation with the success rate on the cognitive tasks. Two not very helpful suggestions were to consider the amount of sleep before taking the test and having participants choose which group they wanted to be in. These may be interesting topics but they add many variables to my experiment and due to the small amount of participants it would be hard to have equal group if participants were allowed to choose which one they were in.
    The breakfast food (pastries) I thought were very good. I had a a chocolate croissant and the orange juice was a very nice touch. The lunch on the other hand was not as enjoyable. I had a roast beef wrap with swiss cheese that was not pleasant in any way.
    I thought the keynote speaker was very good. I liked how he was very energetic and engaging, and I thought his powerpoint about cool science inventions was very interesting. Since we had seen two of his videos, I liked how I knew what he was talking about and could apply some background information. His ending songs were very nice touches to end the day.
    I think the Mock Science fair was very helpful even if I only presented to one person because I got to see where I needed to focus on, how fast to speak, and what I should add to my presentation. Going into the Mock Science Fair I was not aware we had to specifically reference a professional source, however by the time SCISEF came around, I was fully prepared with that information.
    I think for the most part I learned about what variables could be affecting my results and possibly skewing them like I mentioned previously. To improve, I definitely need to gather more results from additional participants. I also need to control the time of the session so instead of moving onto the next task after completing the puzzle, participants have to sit and wait for the full 6 minutes.
    I did not look at many other projects, however I did quickly walk around towards the end when it was open to the public and one that specifically stood out to me was one that had pictures of rainbow shrimp. The title was very confusing so I am not entirely sure what they were researching, as which was so for many other projects.
    The only other students I talked to were the ones around me. I was on the edge of a table so I was only next to one other person, and he kept leaving his place so I didn't really talk to him that much.
    I think the only thing that could ensure students being more prepared would be more practice during school hours, however I recognize the fact that this year there were many snow storms that caused that to be difficult.
    On a scale of 1-5, I would rate my experience a 4 because it was a great experience, however the bad lunch and stress it caused makes it a 4.

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  10. 1. The SCISEF Fair was very enjoyable and interesting. Especially, I enjoyed the guest speaker, Mr. Pogue. He made science interesting and the videos and pictures he talked about were intriguing. He also was very presentable and a great speaker. The fair met my expectations,
    2. The judging process was suitable however I’d prefer to have closer times as I would rather have the information ready and prepared in my mind more. Some judges were very kind, however some judges only complimented. Only one seemed a bit harsh but it was helpful. Of course, judging can be subjective and I understand my project is complex so questions and comprehending is difficult, therefore less questions is understandable.
    3. The most helpful comment from the judges was asking about the pathways and specific genes. I learned I had still a lot to research to understand the binding and encoding of the proteins. The least helpful comment was saying my presentation was impressive, it was very kind and made me feel happy however I didn’t gain any extra insight or questions.
    4. The breakfast was delicious, and the lunch was okay. The sandwiches could have been better but it was filling.
    5. Yes, I did. David Pogue was engaging towards the audience which made me feel more interested in his presentation. He was also very funny which kept the entire presentation enjoyable. I enjoyed his telling of his experiences with added humor. I also enjoyed
    6. The Mock Science Fair helped me stay under the time limit. It also helped me practice my presentational skills and understand how I was going to present.
    7. I learned that I need to research more and explain more in detail my results. I also should talk more on my implications and ways my research would benefit the future.
    8. Yes, I viewed the projects next to my poster, one on Adderall and Victoria’s presentation on folic acid, and a couple others from different schools. Another was on the plants during the dinosaur age and other health-medical related projects. The project that left a lasting impression on me would be the posters next to mine because I spent most of time near there. Also, many people visited the Adderall poster.
    8. Yes, I did. I listened to their presentation and learned more about their projects. Most were very innovative and impressive.
    9. To better prepare students, we can hold more practice or more Mock Science Fairs with more adults to simulate the judges.
    10. My SCSEF experience would be around a 3.7-4. This is because I enjoyed the keynote speaker and the schedule however on a personal level some judges weren’t as helpful and one seemed to be harsh. Overall, it was a great experience and I love presenting.

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  11. 1. I really enjoyed SCISEF this year, the kids were nice and all of my judging went smoothly. I had a good time interacting with the students at other schools and learning about their research. The fair met expectations. The food was just as mediocre as years before

    2. The judging process went well, asking important and reasonable questions.

    3. The judges became very passionate about finding a way to distribute my technology and it was actually very beneficial to the project as a whole.

    4. I didn't have breakfast but lunch was the same as last year. I think maybe next year offer a tuna fish option.

    5. I did not enjoy the keynote speaker. David's presentation seemed like self-promotion and did not really have a lesson.

    6. The mock science fair gave me some constructive criticism on my presentation and helped me to refine it.

    7. I learned that i should make some of the graphics clearer.

    8. I did have time to review some of the other students' projects. Ben Ewing's project had a big impact on me, and it seemed to have very large implications.

    8. Yes, the students from Newtown High School were extremely nice and talked to us a lot. They seemed very passionate about science research and were impressed by the program here at Amity.

    9. Make sure to remind them to print their poster like a week in advance and to practice their presentation.

    10. 4

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  12. Overall, the SCISEF fair was carried out well. The gymnasium where the projects were was very organized and easy to navigate, and the presentation was very entertaining and informative. Judges generally were intent on listening to my presentation, and they usually asked questions that helped clarify my presentation, however this sometimes interrupted the flow of the presentation. The judges’ most helpful comment was when they inquired about the implications of the project, which allowed me to clarify my point, and show which factors were analyzed in relation to the other. The breakfast from the fair was yummy, especially the muffins, considering that I had never eaten a SCISEF breakfast before. The keynote presentation, from what I had heard, was extremely fun and quite hilarious – it was Brian Pogue. The Mock Science Fair helped me prepare for the actual fair by allowing me to clarify which points I wanted to emphasize during my presentation. After my presentation, I realized that I needed to integrate background more closely into the project. Another student project on using whale earwax to check for symptoms of disease seemed interesting in the fair. Students from other schools were very polite, though I did not talk very much with them. Scheduling the judges better for the next fair would improve SCISEF. SCISEF received a score of about 4 in my opinion.

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  13. Dana Chung

    1. SCSEF left a great lasting impression on me. I specifically enjoyed sharing my project and seeing other students’ projects. I enjoyed explaining my project to judges and other teachers/parents/students. It was a great opportunity to share all the hard work that was completed within the last year. SCSEF met all my expectations, I thought the food was even better! Personally, I thought the experience was different than previous years because it was held at Newtown High School as opposed to Amity. However, I thought the fair was even better than what I experienced in the past.
    2. What was the judging process like? Were the judges fair and helpful?
    This year, my judging process was smooth sailing and went off without a hitch. My judges were right on time (10:30 and 12:00) and allowed me to present my project and answer questions. All the judges were very interested in my project.
    3. What was the most helpful comment from the Judges? Least helpful?
    The most helpful comment I received from the judges was advice I should consider for a continuation of my project. We discussed the effects of having a larger sample size and continuing data analysis with other treatment options for Trigeminal Neuralgia. However, one of the least helpful comments was that the sample size was too small for the conclusions to be significant. Besides that one judge, all the judges were fair and helpful.
    4. I thought the food was very delicious. I particularily enjoyed the Cranberry muffin I had before the fair started. There was a very large variety of food. The drinks available were very refreshing.
    5. Unfortunately, I missed the Keynote Presentation by David Pogue because I had to leave the fair early for a family event. However, I heard from other students that the presentation was very enjoyable and engaging.
    6. The mock science fair helped me practice presenting my presentation. Presenting my poster/topic multiple times helped me immensely. By practicing multiple times, I was able to identify areas to focus on, explain and analyze. Also, receiving feedback from fellow students was extremely invaluable.
    7. To improve my project for the next fair, the judges advised explaining more about other treatment options in the background part of the presentation. Also, they recommended to talk more about the treatment process itself. All these comments were extremely helpful and will be taken into consideration before the next fair.
    8 (part 1). Unfortunately, I didn’t have a lot of time to explore other students’ projects, but some projects left a lasting impression. At the fair, I discovered that an old friend that I met at an engineering camp was presenting at the fair. Her project, “Analyzing the Effect of Deicers on Connecticut River Water Quality” was very interesting. It was very nice to see projects that students are completing at other schools.
    8 (part 2). I actually talked to many students from other schools. Many of the students asked me questions about my poster including where I got the poster printed. It was very interesting to talk to students about their programs and experiences at their schools.
    9. To prepare students better for future science fairs, it would be a good idea to prepare students with questions that the judges might ask. If we had a session during class where we all asked questions that judges would ask us, we may be better prepared for answering their questions at upcoming science fairs.
    10.Overall, I would give my experience at SCSEF a 5. I found the experience to be very enjoyable and worthwhile. I enjoyed having the opportunity to talk with other students and present all the work I completed within the last year. It was a very rewarding experience.

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  14. Anna Ryack
    1.Overall, I really enjoyed SCSEF. It was fun being able to spend time with other students who enjoy science as much as I do, and to be able to see other projects. The feedback I received from judges was very useful. I think it was a really fun way to spend my Saturday.
    2. I was a little nervous when I saw the judges approaching, but I think the overall process was okay. In my first set of judges, I had a really serious, stern judge but he gave me helpful feedback. My other judges were very friendly, but they still gave good feedback. I feel that judging was overall a good experience.
    3. The most helpful comment from the judges was their advice on how to improve/add questions to my survey to help me determine if varying time estimates are an effect of time-of-day or something else like amount of sleep. They also suggested a few other methods of analyzing my data.
    4. I think the food was good, but there was a lot of it! I would’ve liked slightly smaller muffins and sandwich wraps, but I guess there are probably plenty of people who need more food than I do. Everything tasted good though!
    5. I really enjoyed David Pogue’s presentation. It was entertaining and he really interacted with the audience. Although I’m not quite sure what the point of his presentation was, he did succeed in making science seem fun and interesting (although I already believed it was). I also picked up a few fun facts!
    6. Our class didn’t get much time for our mock science fair; however the time I had still gave me the ability to practice presenting my project. This let me know what I needed to work on to improve my presentation skills, or even a few small changes to make to my poster before the fair.

    7. The judges gave me some useful feedback on ways to alter my project (I haven’t run my experiment yet). They suggested things, such as adding a few other questions on my survey, to help keep my experiment more constant. I can use feedback like that to help make my experiment better for when I actually run it.
    8.I had time to view a few other posters, but not many left a lasting impression. This was likely because a lot of other projects were either in fields I’m not as interested in, or are too complex for me to understand. One project I enjoyed investigated the effect of weather on time perception. I’m interested in time perception and estimation, so I enjoyed the project. Another project that left an impression studied the effects of Adderall and cocaine on mice. It was really the title of the project that drew me in, something along the lines of “Adderall, the new Cocaine?”
    8. I did talk to a few students from other schools; however, I mostly hung out with friends from our school. I spoke with students near my project, and we mostly gave each other positive encouragement or had simple ‘get to know you’ conversations. I’m a little shy around people I don’t know, so that’s likely the reason I spent most of my time with people from our school.
    9. I feel that I, as well as other students in Amity, were very well prepared for the fair. Our PowerPoint presentations and mock science fair helped to give me practice speaking and explaining my project in front of others, as well as gave me feedback to improve my project. I was actually surprised how smoothly my presentation to the judges was, and how calm I felt.
    10. I’d rate my experience as a 4.5, although that’s largely because I was tired and would have preferred to sleep in. I did have a lot of fun speaking with other students, seeing other projects, and received some excellent feedback. It was a really great experience.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Owais Khan

    1) My overall impression of the fair was that ran quite smoothly. I had a great time interacting with other students and learning about their projects. There was ample time to observe different posters and there was enough space between posters to present comfortably.

    2) Judges came in waves of three and were relatively late both times. They were quite appreciative of the research and they asked very reasonable questions.

    3) The most helpful comment the judges provided was giving a comparison of the software to Rosetta Stone. It gave me an idea for a future project using a different type of software. The least helpful comment was when the judge asked me for my methods just before I was about to explain it.

    4) I ate neither the breakfast or the lunch. Both meals seemed dreadful.

    5) The keynote presentation was funny and informative. Even though David isn't a scientist, he is quite a good presenter.

    6) I hadn't thoroughly prepared for the presentation until the mock science fair and the experience helped me collect my ideas.

    7) I didn't quite learn anything new besides comparing my software to Rosetta Stone. The judges didn't have much else to suggest.

    8) I didn't carefully review any projects. I mainly went around, looking at titles to figure out my competition.

    9) The structure of the posters needs to be addressed. If students spend time following the rubric, they're projects will seem more appealing and professional.

    10) 4, I liked the fair a lot. Some hitches with the judges were the only aspects that were slightly unappealing.

    ReplyDelete
  16. 1. Overall, SCISEF was very enjoyable. I enjoyed the guest speaker. I liked it much better than last year. There seemed to be less of the boring talking before the guest speaker, so that was good.

    2. My judges were very helpful. They gave me a ton of advice on how to improve my project, like more statistics and graphs.

    3. The most helpful comment was to do a better graph representation of data. The least helpful was about my papers being out of order in my binder.

    4. Breakfast was very standard, while lunch was pretty bad. The wraps were cold and didn’t taste like anything.

    5. I did. He was very funny and entertaining. He might have gone on a little bit too long.

    6. It helped to practice in front of someone I was comfortable with. That way, I could just focus on what I need to say without being nervous.

    7. I learned that I need more statistical analysis and to better represent the data in graph form.

    8. I had a little time. The only one I really remember was another girls project, which was very similar to mine.

    8. Some of the students from other schools chatted me up near my poster. Other than that, I didn’t really get a chance to.

    9. Nothing really. I felt very prepared.

    10. I would give SCSEF a 4.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Overall, I thought the fair went well. I liked the school’s gym and I enjoyed the time between judging. The scheduling was similar to other years, which was nice.

    The judges I had were very fair, and they seemed genuinely interested in what I did. They asked questions that showed they understood, and they were very interested in the organisms I worked with specifically.

    The judges did not really provide any helpful commentary. One unhelpful comment was when a judge told me I should talk more about how the collembola reproduce, which was irrelevant to my project.

    Breakfast was good but they didn’t have plates, which was very annoying and inconvenient. Lunch was terrible, the vegetarian option was not good and was way too big to finish.

    I thought David Pogue’s jokes were kind of funny, but his presentation was a bit boring, as he focused on his show. We had also seen a lot of it from watching Making Stuff in class.

    I think the Mock Science Fair helped me prepare how I would present my ideas within the time constraint. I was also able to find out what I would need to explain more to people because they didn’t really understand it.

    I didn’t really learn anything new about my project that I’m not already working on.

    I saw some people’s projects. One that I noticed was very similar to Peter Satonick’s project, which involved rats and cocaine. However, the girl who conducted it made a very empty and messy poster, which I thought was interesting considering the time and effort she put into the actual project.

    I didn’t talk to any students from other schools.

    I think we are doing a good job of preparing students for upcoming science fairs. I felt very well-prepared.

    Overall, I give the experience a score of 3. The fair went well, but it was very tiring.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Ben Staniewicz

    1. This was an enjoyable fair, but I’ve enjoyed fairs from the past even more. I will elaborate later but there were several areas that I wish were a little bit improved. I did, however, very much like how well organized everything was with a good layout and signs showing where everything is.
    2. I think the judging process was good. All judges were fair and none of them were rude. I did not have any issues speaking with any people who didn’t speak English as a first language. Judges asked good questions but there could have been more and more complicated questions.
    3. Judges didn’t make many comments. They asked questions for clarification but didn’t ask many questions that were very difficult.
    4. I did not have breakfast so I can’t comment on that. For lunch, they never asked to collect my ticket that they were supposedly keeping track of. The food itself was alright, but there has been much better food at other science fairs. Plus, there were no cookies.
    5. The Keynote presentation was fun, but I did not enjoy it very much. Although entertaining, he didn’t speak very formally. He talked more about his involvement on TV rather than how he got to where he was (in a position to host those shows) which would have been more applicable and important to us.
    6. The Mock Science Fair was very helpful. Being in a group project, it helped me see other team members’ weaknesses (both in presentation and knowledge). On the bus ride to the fair, I was able to help make sure everyone knew their role and helped them do practice presentations. The mock science fair helped with our presentation but we did not update our poster at all.
    7. I really didn’t learn much new about my project. One thing that I know I need to improve, however, is my knowledge about the landing gear and drag braces. I only recently found out that that was the final challenge and will need to know more about that for the future.
    8. I didn’t have much time but I talked with a few people who came to my poster and I went to a few others that seemed to have interesting topics. For most of these that I saw, the presenter was not there so I merely read the poster. For the most part I spoke with students from Amity.
    9. I think most people’s posters were very good. However, from our school and others, I noticed a lot of people could have had better presentation skills and looked a little nervous. I think the most important thing would be to have more in class presentations (that aren’t graded) to give people practice (mainly practice but also feedback) in presenting.
    10. I would rate this as a 4. The fair itself was lots of fun but as previously mentioned, I didn’t like the food and David Pogue, although entertaining, was not very informative.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Joseph Neumann

    1. Overall, I had a generally positive response to the SCSEF Science Fair. I enjoyed the light atmosphere and how it allowed time for communication and relaxation to ease the anxiety of presenting. Overall, I can say that the science fair met my expectation (of delivering an experience that was near-identical to my past experiences). It was similar in the arrangement of posters and judges but different with its auditorium, keynote speaker, and food options.

    2. Judging worked much like it did last year. The judges that did give me advice gave me helpful advice, suggesting I use analysis with 3D models.

    3. The most helpful suggestion was having a side-by-side picture of a 3-dimensional model of the exposed ferrofluids next to the Faraday lines of the magnetic field. The least helpful advice was for me to change a unit (from eccentricity to major axis divided by minor axis, which isn't even a common means of measuring roundness for a 3-D object.

    4. Personally, I didn't have either breakfast or lunch. However, I heard people complain universally about the food, including lack of options and the food tasting bad.

    5. I did enjoy the presentation, but had a variety of minor complaints. He made the bold statement that the 40% of Americans who identified themselves as creationists were stupid and were a detriment to the advance of science. He also delivered information through comedy, which was also very hit-or-miss.

    6. The Mock Science Fair served as an opportunity for me to practice presenting my project.

    7. I didn't learn of any major modifications that should be made to my project. The judges did not give me any major criticisms.

    8. I had plenty of time to view other presentations. Personally, I would be inclined to look at projects with a good print quality, but none of the projects themselves caught my attention (not me trying to be a jerk; I was just nervous and didn't have time to think about the other projects).

    8. I didn't talk to them that much. I had a few students present their projects to me, however.

    9. There honestly isn't much that can be done to help students prepare. While time presenting is always useful that's more of an obligation students should do outside of school.

    10. 2 (it should have been fun but I was extremely nervous, which ruined a lot of it for me)

    ReplyDelete
  20. Arvene Golbazi

    1. I generally enjoyed the SCISEF fair this year. I thought that the organization was well thought out and prevented any serious confusion. Also, Newtown High School had great facilities for us to use. The fair did meet my expectations, but did not exceed them, as the general setup was similar to previous years and didn’t change anything too drastically. It was slightly different in that they changed the types of food served, which I’ll get to later.

    2. The judging process was good, as they either came right on time or earlier than expected. This was good as I was able to get the stress of presenting out of the way quickly. My judges were very fair and amiable, and gave me great constructive feedback on how I could improve my proposal.

    3. The most helpful comment was them telling me to try using plain ionized water instead of tap water to reduce errors, and the least helpful was them telling me I should use graphene sheets, which I didn’t have access to and had already told them that.

    4. The food was not satisfactory at all, I would’ve expected better from a North Korean gulag camp. The sandwiches were extremely slimy and cold, and here were no cookies.

    5. I did enjoy it, but he did talk a little too much about himself and didn’t talk too much about the broader applications and importance of continuing in science research.

    6. I was able to nail down my final presentation technique using the mock science fair and my peers, which greatly helped me reduce anxiety for presenting during the fair.

    7. I learned that for my project, I can use ionized water to reduce errors and try to use my capacitors to power household electronics to show their applications.

    8. Unfortunately I was too busy rehearsing my presentation to talk too other students.

    9. I did look at the first place physical science project next to mine which detected dark matter in the universe through gamma radiation. I found it fascinating because it encouraged a new way of detecting this unknown material.

    10. We can help them rehearse their projects better and critique their posters before they print it.

    11. Overall, my experience was a 3.5, mainly lowered by the food and David Pogue’s massive ego.

    ReplyDelete
  21. 1. I would have to say that I really liked the fair this year, but not more than past fairs. I enjoyed that the fair was organized and it was easy to navigate and it did very much meet all my expectations. It was similar to all other fairs with the logistics and schedule and the experience of this fair was also the same to what I had expected.
    2. The judging process was very quick as our slots were 10:00 and 10:30 which I would have to say should be checked for a changed because consecutive judging slots although helps keep your memory fresh, is very exhausting and you need some time to decompress. The judges were quite fair and gave good input while we were presenting.
    3. The judges did not give us many comments, at least not about the project. They only asked questions about the project.
    4. The food was very good the breakfast especially was very good with a large amount of variety, the only problem was that there were not enough plates. The lunch though was not as good, the wraps were a little too big and they were a bit bland.
    5. The keynote presentation was very interesting from the standpoint of a non-scientist, but from the perspective of a scientist it was quite boring. He was very engaging and interesting, but I was waiting the whole time for him to say what motivated him to go into the field of science, but he never stated that so I felt like I left with nothing new.
    6. The mock science fair helped a lot since we are a group there needs to be a lot of practice on who does what parts and we were able to settle a majority of these issues the day before the fair so there was no problem during it.
    7. There was not much that we learned from the judges while presenting, but we are not completed with our project yet therefore there will be changes to it before the next science fair.
    8. I did not have time to view many other students’ projects.
    9. I did not talk to many students from other schools.
    10. I think that the preparation that we did was enough for us to be able to present at the science fair with ease.
    11. 4 It was a little better than average, but not outstanding.

    ReplyDelete
  22. 1. Overall, I was pleased with SCISEF. I will say, however, that the layout of Newton High School is less than ideal for this event, as the cafeteria and bathrooms were quite removed from the gym. I really liked the judges I got this year, and the fair was well-organized (except for the food).

    2. I had two rounds of three judges. All of my judges were very respectful. When I finished presenting, they asked me the typical questions about how I started researching, what I wanted to do in life, whether I had gotten into college, etc. However, unlike the typical creepy judges, this year the judges did not make me uncomfortable.

    3. The most helpful comment was a suggestion that I should study the physical compulsions in the mice with the HDC-KO later on in my career, especially if the lab in which I currently work is not interested in such work. I truly did not have any unhelpful comments, as all of my judges were very kind and accommodating.

    4. Although the food selection during breakfast was good, supplies were very low, as within a few minutes there were no more plates and cream cheese. The lunch was kinda gross....

    5. Overall, I enjoyed David Pogue's presentation, but I do wish he had shared some advice on how start and maintain a successful career in science.

    6. I presented to Ms. Fanucci during the Mock Science Fair. She recommended that I emphasize that my research did not focus on the physical compulsions of the mice, but instead, the morphology of their microglia.

    7. The judges did not offer any new suggestions, but in presenting to the judges, I realized the value of stressing "real-world applications."

    7. I did not look at other projects in too much detail, but I did notice that a few other students had project similar to those by Amity students. I saw a project about carbon nanotubes, autism, and even induced stress in crickets.

    8. I only briefly spoke with the girl next to me.

    9. More practice presenting would def help all students, especially confidence levels.

    10. 4: had the food been tasty and David Pogue not have self-promoted so much it would have been a five.

    ReplyDelete
  23. George Zhang

    1. Overall, I enjoyed the fair and I felt it was a great learning experience. The one on one interactions with the judges was informative and insightful. This fair met (if not exceeded) my expectations very well. Compared to the last fair I attended, this fair was more enjoyable as it was nice going to a new school and getting a change of atmosphere. It also helped that my research project was a lot better than last year.

    2. I enjoyed the judging process a lot. The judges we presented to were intelligible and fair. They seemed genuinely interested in our project and they provided helpful insights for how we could improve our project. They were very friendly and welcoming.

    3. The most helpful comment was probably that we needed more participants, as we really did because our data was not statistically significant. The least helpful, on the other hand, was probably when one of the judges asked if there were any questions we would like to be asked. It was an interesting question, but not very constructive.

    4. I thought the breakfast was very good. However, the lunch was disappointing as the wraps were not very good, nor were the chips or the drinks.

    5. I fairly enjoyed the presentation by David Pogue, as it was humorous and engaging. However, I felt his presentation could have been a little shorter, and perhaps a tad more scientific instead of promotional.

    6. The mock science fair allowed Eli and I to realize our strengths and weaknesses while presenting and adjust our presentation as such. It was great practice for the actual thing.

    7. I did not really learn much more about my project, as the entire subject was kind of new to the judges. But I did learn that I needed a lot more participants to validate my conclusion.

    8. I had a lot of time to view other student projects, as our poster was judged fairly late. Some seemed very well done while others not so much. I do not really remember any specifics, as I was mostly focused on my presentation.

    9. I did not really talk to any other students from other schools. I did talk briefly with one student whose poster was next to mine. It was basically just pleasant casual conversation about the science fair and our projects.

    10. This science fair was a little rushed, so I feel that more time to create the posters and practice presenting would definitely be beneficial to future students. Last year, the science fair was postponed so we had a lot of time to practice, and I felt I was much better prepared.

    11. 4. The fair was very enjoyable and I enjoyed presenting and being judged. However the food was not so great, and the guest speaker could have been a little more focused.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Eli Silvert

    1. I thought the fair ran smoothly. I liked how we got a good amount of time before judging started to set up the poster, put any finishing touches on, and practice presenting. Also, I liked the keynote speaker David Pogue. I thought what he had to say was a lot more interesting than other keynote speakers in the past. The fair certainly met my expectations. From what I remember, the fair was very similar to SCISEF last year. They keynote speaker was different, which was better.

    2. The judging process was simple from what I could tell. Usually three judges came and looked over our poster for a couple minutes, and then we presented to them for about seven minutes. Then, they asked questions for about 5 minutes. All of my judges were nice and fairly helpful.

    3. The most helpful comment, and the major one, was that we need more participants for any significant results. The least helpful comment was when one of the judges asked us if there was anything that we wanted or expected to be asked. Although this didn’t help us with our project at all, it was funny.

    4. I thought the breakfast was fine. There were some quality muffins. Some cream cheese would have been nice for the bagels though. The lunch was horrible. The vegetarian wrap was bad. After looking at what was inside, I didn’t want to take a bite. So, the lunch could have been a lot better.

    5. I did enjoy the keynote speaker David Pogue. He was very engaging. I was genuinely interested in what he had to say because he seems very successful, entertaining, and we’ve seen some of the Nova shows he has hosted. Although he didn’t talk much about any specifics in science research, I thought that was alright. He offered a view of another career in science.

    6. I think the Mock Science Fair helped a lot for the actual one. I learned a lot about how to improve my presentation from the critiques. I ended up going home and printing out about five new, edited slides to put on the poster. This was a bit of a pain, but it was definitely useful considering I wanted our project to be the best it could for the actual fair.

    7. I didn’t learn anything new about my project. However, the fact that we need more participants was reinforced at this fair. This will be done for future fairs so the data can be significant and more conclusive results could be obtained.

    8. I don’t remember any other projects from other schools. However, I did notice that many posters looked very clean and formal because everything was printed on to it. I definitely want to try to do this for next year’s project.

    9. I didn’t have any significant conversations with anyone from other schools.

    10. To prepare students for upcoming science fairs, it might be useful to present off of the actual poster so that we could get used to presenting off of this rather than our PowerPoint. Other than this, I don’t see anything that can be done in addition to what is already done.

    11. 4; My experience was better than I expected mostly due to David Pogue and getting an award.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Victoria Li

    1. My overall impression of SCSEF was that it ran smoothly and it was very interesting to see projects that students from other schools had done. It was different since it was at a different location, but the atmosphere created by the judges and students was nice.

    2. The Judges were very nice, if stiff at times, but offered constructive criticism as to how to improve my project.

    3. The most helpful comment given by the Judges were on what I could do for future research, such as observe what the teacher teaches their students in class. The least helpful comments was one the judges asked me to explain something that I had previously said.

    4. I didn't each breakfast, so no comment on that. But lunch could have been better.

    5.His presentation was hilarious, but talked mostly about himself and the show.It may have been interesting if he talked more about how he got interested in science.

    6.Presenting to other people helped me get more comfortable with the idea of Judges judging the presentation, and the listeners also provided helpful tips as to how I could improve it.

    7. I didn't really learn anything new about my project.

    8. I did glance at a few posters, but didn't have time to really look at them closely.

    8.I didn't talk to students from other schools because by the time I was walking around, almost everyone else was either presenting or had left their posters.

    9. Definitely spending more time on how to make poster and what should be on it would help.

    10. 4.8 - It was great. Food though......

    ReplyDelete
  26. 1. Overall the fair went fine. I did enjoy some of the time in-between events to talk to friends and also I felt my presentation went well. One thing that was disappointing was the wifi at the school was bad. It didn’t work everywhere and was extremely slow in the places it did work. The fair did meet my expectations. It was similar to the last one I did.

    2. My judges were very nice. They seemed interested in my project and they left hopeful tips.

    3. The most helpful comments were ideas for future projects. The least helpful comment was a judge asked me to explain part of my experiment, which I had already explained clearly before.
    4. Breakfast was great I loved the beagles. Lunch on the other hand was BAD.

    5. I found his presentation interesting although it took a little bit to long. It was funny although he occasionally went a bit to far.

    6. It helped me practice what I was going to present.

    7. I did learn some possibilities to expand my project. One judge said I might want to use data analysis to predict results, it would be interesting but I am not sure it is possible.

    8. No

    8. No

    9. Possibly we could discuss what make a good poster.

    10. 3

    ReplyDelete
  27. Victoria Liu


    1. Overall, I liked the fair. I liked the environment of the gym, as it was very open and bright. The schedule of the fair seemed like the exact same thing as the past few years, so it met my expectations. I didn’t find there to be much different, although I can’t exactly say that Newtown was the best location.

    2. The judging process was a lot smoother than I thought it would have gone. The judges appeared fair, but they didn’t offer me any really helpful advice, albeit their lack of questions made me confident.

    3. I expected the judges to ask me a multitude of difficult questions that I even questioned about parts of my project, but instead they asked me questions somewhat irrelevant to my project (eg. Do you think that China should fortify folate into their food? This was actually asked both rounds…).

    4. THE FOOD WAS SO BAD. THE BREAKFAST FOODS WERE REALLY DRY (the cinnamon roll at least, the muffins were okay) AND THERE WAS NO GOOD VARIETY OF DRINKS. I WANTED A COOKIE AT LUNCH. DID I GET A COOKIE? NO. I GOT A BAG OF OILY CHIPS AND A REALLY LONG BAD TASTING PLAIN WRAP. EVERYONE COMPLAINED ABOUT THE WRAPS AND TOLD ME TO GET THE TURKEY ONE SINCE IT WAS THE ONLY SEMI-GOOD ONE (SHOUTOUT TO THOSE PEOPLE FOR HELPING GET THE DECENT ONE). PLATES WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE TOO. ☺

    5. Yes! I enjoyed it. David was funny and an entertaining person. He was much better than the lady last year, but I still place bat guy as the best keynote presenter at SCISEF thus far. David never really taught us a lesson, like bat guy did. It seemed like too much promotion. I was waiting for him to tell us how he became the non-scientist, but I did like getting the behind the scenes look at Making Stuff.

    6. I always find the Mock Science Fair very helpful. Presenting to my parents wasn’t sufficient enough so I thought that presenting to my peers and teachers gave me the opportunity to make sure that my presentation was adequate.

    7. I learned the most logical and coherent way to present my project. I need to adjust my poster for the next science fair, which I have to do anyway since I want to get it printed.

    8. I briefly saw some other posters when I walked around, but only one left a lasting impression because it was ridiculous: project 228. It was the Fibonacci sequence one and someone could have done it with graphing calculator. I was surprised at how many messy and unorganized posters there were, including the mice and cocaine project (Peter?!).

    8. Not really..haha…

    9. Personally, Ms. Day, I believe that you did a great job preparing us. The round robin would have been nice and beneficial but time did not permit us to do it.

    10. I’d give my experience a 4. I liked the fair in general, but:
    1. There was bad food
    2. The bathrooms were really small
    3. It was difficult to navigate from the gym to the cafeteria…
    My issues just came with the location, but everything else was good!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Please reflect on the following (each question in detail):

    1. I enjoyed the science fair. It was interesting to experience what science fairs are like, as I've never been to one before. Due to this, I really had no expectations as to what it would be like.

    2. The judging process was helpful, but not very. My judges did not give me a large amount of feedback.

    3. One helpful comment was to use a different type of aquatic plant, to make measurements easier. One of the least helpful suggestions was a different way of measuring the plants; a way that I had considered, but eventually rejected, because it wouldn't have worked.

    4. The food at breakfast and lunch was very good. Some of my friends disliked the wraps at lunch, however.

    5. I enjoyed the Keynote presentation by David Pogue very much. Even though he wasn't a scientist presenting research, he was still very interesting and funny.

    6. The mock science fair that we held in class gave me an opportunity to practice my presentation. I didn't get much more time to do that, so this as very helpful.

    7. I didn't learn anything new about my project, but I definitely realized that I should have done more trials, which I may do for the next fair.

    8. Because I am interested in anthropology, I was very intrigued by a proposal on measuring the skulls of Neanderthals.

    8. My poster was surrounded by Amity students, so I didn't have a chance to talk to students from different schools.

    9. I think that the requirements for the fair should have been presented to us earlier, so we could have had more time to prepare.

    10. I would rate my overalls experience at the fair as a 4 out of 5.

    ReplyDelete
  29. 1. I enjoyed the SCISEF fair. I enjoyed looking at all of the other projects and talking to people in other science research classes. It was similar to what I expected.


    2. The judges were fair and helpful. They pointed out many things that could be helpful to improve my project, but in a positive way.


    3. The most helpful comment that the judges gave me was suggestions for if I decide to continue in this area of study. They didn’t say many things that weren’t helpful.


    4. The breakfast was amazing, but the lunch wasn't very good. I would definitely prefer something more basic that everyone likes.


    5. I really enjoyed the presentation. I think it was good to have someone that was fun and entertaining talk because i think that everyone enjoyed it more.


    6. The mock science fair helped me improve my presentation time. It also helped me realize where else I needed to work on my presentation so I could improve it for the actual science fair.


    7. I learned about many ways I could improve my project and poster for the next fair from the judges and looking at other projects.


    8. I had time to view some projects, but not long enough to look much at them in depth.


    9. I talked briefly to the girl whose poster was next to mine, but not for very long because her judges came over.


    10. I thought I was well prepared, and not much more preparation was needed.

    11. 4.5

    ReplyDelete
  30. What was your overall impression of the SCISEF Fair? Specifically, what things did you enjoy about the fair? Did the fair meet your expectations? In what ways was it similar or different to what you anticipated or experienced in the past?

    I really enjoyed SCISEF. It was a great experience where everyone got helpful feedback and judge input. I really enjoyed presenting over everything. I thought it was going to be hard, but it was actually quite fun. Another way SCISEF differed from my expectations was how casual it all was.

    2. What was the judging process like? Were the judges fair and helpful?
    The judges were pretty much on time. My first round of judges was incredible, and asked very thought provoking questions. My second round however seemed to be so shocked that it was even possible to remediate oil spills in this novel way that they kept on asking how I came across it.....slightly less helpful than the first round. Overall, the judges were very helpful.

    3. What was the most helpful comment from the Judges? Least helpful?

    The most helpful: How would this work on a large scale
    Least: ..... everything was helpful:)

    4. How was the food (breakfast and lunch)?
    Lunch and breakfast were good. I think it was nice to have a place where everyone could relax a little and get away from the fair.

    5. Did you enjoy the Keynote presentation by David Pogue? Explain.
    I LOVED it!!! he was very funny:) Even though his presentation did not seem to have an actual theme, it was very fun to watch and funny.

    6. In what way(s) do you think the Mock Science Fair helped
    prepare you for the fair?

    It gave me a sense of my timing as well as what i need to work on. Also it helped me find an easy way to explain what was going on.

    7. Did you learn anything new about your project? If so, what can
    you do to improve it for the next fair?

    I was basically asked how this would work on a larger scale, this made me think critically.

    8. Did you have time to view other student projects? Which project(s) left a lasting impression? why?

    I was presenting at 11:30 so until then i wandered around the fair. The students who made a new skin really fascinated me.

    8. Did you talk to students from other schools? Explain.

    9. What can we do to better prepare students for upcoming science fairs, if anything?

    Maybe do more inclass presenting and critical analysis of the posters.

    10. Overall on a scale of 1 (terrible) to 5 (amazing) --> How enjoyable was your SCSEF experience?

    5........thousand

    ReplyDelete
  31. Vimratha Teepireddy

    1. Overall, I enjoyed the SCISEF Fair. It was fun. I was able to go around and look at other posters. I also met a judge that I had last year, which was interesting. I did not like the food. It was unpleasant.
    2. The judging process was alright. Some of the judges were nice and helpful, while others were a bit more intimidating.
    3. The most helpful comments from the judges were comments on how I could improve my research process. The least helpful comments were comments on how my survey included the names of the participants.
    4. I do not know about the breakfast but I did not like the lunch. It was very cheesy (literally), but I like the potato chips.
    5. Yes, the keynote speaker was awesome. He had a interesting sense of humor and his presentation wasn’t dull. I think the keynote speaker was unpredictable.
    6. The mock science fair helped me prepare my presentation as well as get comfortable speaking about my research with other people. The mock science fair made me more comfortable with presenting.
    7. I learned that I could use different grades in my research as well as allowing the participants to choose whether they do not want to write their name or create a anonymous name.
    8. I was able to get a glimpse of other projects. The projects with the colorful poster boards left a lasting impression. The posters were creative and colorful in the way they were presented.
    9. No, I did not converse with students from other schools.
    10. We can allow more class time for students to prepare for the science fair.
    11. 4, I enjoyed the fair but the food was terrible and there were technical difficulties.

    ReplyDelete
  32. 1. What was your overall impression of the SCISEF Fair? Specifically, what things did you enjoy about the fair? Did the fair meet your expectations? In what ways was it similar or different to what you anticipated or experienced in the past?
    SCSEF was fine. I don’t have many negative comments. It was much better with judging time than last year.
    2. What was the judging process like? Were the judges fair and helpful?
    My judges were pretty nice overall. One was very knowledgeable because he was an APES teacher in another school.
    3. What was the most helpful comment from the Judges? Least helpful?
    Most of them did not ask questions about my project, but rather how I could expand on them. The least helpful comment was “did you have fun?”
    4. How was the food (breakfast and lunch)?
    I did not eat breakfast, but lunch was okay. The wraps were huge.
    5. Did you enjoy the Keynote presentation by David Pogue? Explain.
    Yes, he had a very engaging style of presentation. I also enjoyed his puns.
    6. In what way(s) do you think the Mock Science Fair helped prepare you for the fair?
    It helped me organize my poster in my mind.
    7. Did you learn anything new about your project? If so, what can you do to improve it for the next fair?
    Not really.
    8. Did you have time to view other student projects? Which project(s) left a lasting impression? why?
    Yes, I looked at a few. I liked the marine biology-oriented ones.
    8. Did you talk to students from other schools? Explain.
    No, I did not.
    9. What can we do to better prepare students for upcoming science fairs, if anything?
    I think students are well prepared, the only thing that might help is if we had time to construct the posters in class so we could receive feedback from our peers at that time.
    10. Overall on a scale of 1 (terrible) to 5 (amazing) --> How enjoyable was your SCSEF experience?
    4

    ReplyDelete
  33. Please reflect on the following (each question in detail):

    1.What was your overall impression of the SCISEF Fair? Specifically, what things did you enjoy about the fair? Did the fair meet your expectations? In what ways was it similar or different to what you anticipated or experienced in the past?
    I really enjoyed the experience – it was nice having SCSEF in a different location, where we did not need to worry or help out. My time with the judges was a good indication of what people were interested in, and I think it will help me in my future presentation at SfAA. The fair was pretty much similar to what we experienced in the past.
    2. What was the judging process like? Were the judges fair and helpful?
    I didn’t really hold any expectations for the judging process, simply because my project was such a different type of study in comparison to other projects. I believe the judges tried their best in understanding my project and at times they did appear uninterested in the study.
    3. What was the most helpful comment from the Judges? Least helpful?
    I think the most helpful comment was when one of my judges asked me about my motivation for the study. It never occurred to me to use my motivation and my experiences as an intro into the project. In terms of least helpful, I believe all the comments they made were extremely helpful.
    4. How was the food (breakfast and lunch)?
    The food was adequate, although I don’t believe it was delicious or disgusting. I did find my stomach was feeling a bit queasy after a blueberry muffin.
    5. Did you enjoy the Keynote presentation by David Pogue? Explain.
    Yes! I found his presentation very refreshing, especially with his puns. I had watched his show when I was younger, with my father, and it was amazing to see him in real time, not on a television screen. In terms of presentation, I think I would have definitely liked to hear his opinion of the NOVA Making Stuff experience, and learn more about the things that did not air.
    6. In what way(s) do you think the Mock Science Fair helped prepare you for the fair?
    The mock science fair allowed me to gain the insight of my fellow peers, which led to some minor changes made in order to help the judges to better understand my project. For example, I know someone mentioned putting labels of each cluster on the multidimensional scale, which helped judges to understand the different types of stresses and causes for drug use.
    7. Did you learn anything new about your project? If so, what can you do to improve it for the next fair?
    No, I didn’t learn anything new, since it was an observational study. Someone did mention to look at stress coping mechanisms in other ethnicities and then to compare them, which is something I want to look into in the future.
    8. Did you have time to view other student projects? Which project(s) left a lasting impression? why?
    Unfortunately, no, I did not get time to look at other student’s projects.
    8. Did you talk to students from other schools? Explain.
    No, I did not get the chance to talk to students from other schools. I spent my time developing the relationships I had already formed at this high school.
    9. What can we do to better prepare students for upcoming science fairs, if anything?
    I believe it would be nice to spend the class time building up to the fair working on presentations. Seeing as most students really needed to print the slides of their posters at school the morning of the Mock Science Fair, I realized the process might have gone more smoothly if we had started early.
    10. Overall on a scale of 1 (terrible) to 5 (amazing) --> How enjoyable was your SCSEF experience?
    4.5.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Please reflect on the following (each question in detail):

    1.What was your overall impression of the SCISEF Fair? Specifically, what things did you enjoy about the fair? Did the fair meet your expectations? In what ways was it similar or different to what you anticipated or experienced in the past?
    I really enjoyed the experience – it was nice having SCSEF in a different location, where we did not need to worry or help out. My time with the judges was a good indication of what people were interested in, and I think it will help me in my future presentation at SfAA. The fair was pretty much similar to what we experienced in the past.
    2. What was the judging process like? Were the judges fair and helpful?
    I didn’t really hold any expectations for the judging process, simply because my project was such a different type of study in comparison to other projects. I believe the judges tried their best in understanding my project and at times they did appear uninterested in the study.
    3. What was the most helpful comment from the Judges? Least helpful?
    I think the most helpful comment was when one of my judges asked me about my motivation for the study. It never occurred to me to use my motivation and my experiences as an intro into the project. In terms of least helpful, I believe all the comments they made were extremely helpful.
    4. How was the food (breakfast and lunch)?
    The food was adequate, although I don’t believe it was delicious or disgusting. I did find my stomach was feeling a bit queasy after a blueberry muffin.
    5. Did you enjoy the Keynote presentation by David Pogue? Explain.
    Yes! I found his presentation very refreshing, especially with his puns. I had watched his show when I was younger, with my father, and it was amazing to see him in real time, not on a television screen. In terms of presentation, I think I would have definitely liked to hear his opinion of the NOVA Making Stuff experience, and learn more about the things that did not air.
    6. In what way(s) do you think the Mock Science Fair helped prepare you for the fair?
    The mock science fair allowed me to gain the insight of my fellow peers, which led to some minor changes made in order to help the judges to better understand my project. For example, I know someone mentioned putting labels of each cluster on the multidimensional scale, which helped judges to understand the different types of stresses and causes for drug use.
    7. Did you learn anything new about your project? If so, what can you do to improve it for the next fair?
    No, I didn’t learn anything new, since it was an observational study. Someone did mention to look at stress coping mechanisms in other ethnicities and then to compare them, which is something I want to look into in the future.
    8. Did you have time to view other student projects? Which project(s) left a lasting impression? why?
    Unfortunately, no, I did not get time to look at other student’s projects.
    8. Did you talk to students from other schools? Explain.
    No, I did not get the chance to talk to students from other schools. I spent my time developing the relationships I had already formed at this high school.
    9. What can we do to better prepare students for upcoming science fairs, if anything?
    I believe it would be nice to spend the class time building up to the fair working on presentations. Seeing as most students really needed to print the slides of their posters at school the morning of the Mock Science Fair, I realized the process might have gone more smoothly if we had started early.
    10. Overall on a scale of 1 (terrible) to 5 (amazing) --> How enjoyable was your SCSEF experience?
    4.5.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Matthew McKenna


    1: My overall impression of the fair was a good one. It was a different experience for me than my previous fair because I was presenting as part of a team this year, which is much different than a solo presentation. The feedback that my group got from our judges will be very helpful in correcting our project before the final due date of March 24.

    2. The judging process was ok this year. It seemed like the first round of judges was more focused on the environmental aspect of our project, not the engineering aspect.

    3. The most helpful comment from the judges this year would be to focus more on the business case and consumer requirements while presenting. There was no particular least helpful comment for our group.

    4. Breakfast was lacking because I wanted munchkins, but lunch was fine

    5. Ya, I thought that this keynote presentation was the best I had seen so far because it was both funny and interesting. He also managed to talk about science at the same time, so this keynote presentation was very good.

    6. The mock science fair helped our group decide who will be presenting what, and because of this we appeared to be well organized when we presented to our judges.

    7. Yes, I learned that we should go about the presentation differently. The judges were not as interested into the majority of our work, the engineering aspect, but wanted to here more about the consumer and business case. This was a problem because our business case is not finished, so maybe in the future this should be one of the first things we work on.

    8. I did not have too much time to look at the projects done by other students, but the one that was most interesting to me was the one where the presenter injected rats with cocaine and adderall.

    8. Not really, I mainly talked with other Amity students because students from other schools are the enemy.

    9. Postpone the fair until April again, that was amazing. In class though there is nothing you can do to prepare us better than we were.

    10. I would say it was a 4, but would be an easy five if there were munchkins.

    ReplyDelete
  36. 1. It was much less stressful than last year because it is my second time around. I expected better food and better judging timing, but the Keynote speaker was very interesting.
    2. I found that similar to last year there are generally three types of judges; quite ones, nice ones, and difficult ones. Generally within a group of three one of each of these exist. In my two sets of judges this was true. The judges where very understanding and good listeners, whoever I was interrupted once. My first set of judges arrived five minutes late, and my second set arrived twenty minutes late.
    3. The most helpful comment given to me from a judge was the real world application of the project. He told me that he had read my abstract and was very interested because he uses the technique that I use in his classroom. The least helpful comment from a judge was when one of them asked me to read to him the instructions on the divergent thinking test although I had thoroughly explained them several minutes before.
    4. The breakfast was okay. I had a muffin the size of a small planet. The lunch was quite bad. I had a veggie wrap that only contained cheese and eggplant, so I ended up only eating a bag of chip.
    5. The Keynote presentation was AMAZING. David Pogue was very funny and it was obvious that he knew his audience. He kept me entertained the entire time, and his song at the end was also great.
    6. I had printing issues prior to the mock science fair, so I printed in black and white. The comments from my peers highlighted key points that I should emphasize and points that I had missed. I reprinted in color including in my new poster all of their feedback.
    7. As previously stated, one of my judges told me about the various ways pink noise is used in real life. He said that he already implements it within his classroom and that my research can help support its true effectiveness. I can use his comments to improve the purpose section of my poster.
    8. I made small talk with one student from another school while we waited nearly twenty minutes for our judges to arrive. Besides from her I made little to no contact with students from other schools.
    9. It would be a great help to move the science fair to April again like last year.
    10. I would rank it a 2 because of the hours of standing around waiting for judges, the fact that there where little to no chairs, and the food was horrible. But because of the incredible Keynote I will rank it a 3.
    -Barak Davidi

    ReplyDelete
  37. Kristin Zakoworotny
    1. I was a little disappointed with SCISEF this year. Though the main speaker was famous, I was disappointed by his performance. He did not really have a moral to his presentation, or anything we could learn from it. Instead, he focused on his own experiences. It almost seemed like he was advertising himself and his show. Also, I didn’t feel like he had a passion for science; it was almost as though he was trying to out do all the participants because he kept saying that he was didn’t spend his youth in science, and yet he still has this awesome science job that most of us would probably die for. I also expected the judges to be less cold and more conversational.

    2. I was disappointed by the judges. They didn’t have background knowledge in my research area. Most of them didn’t really seem to understand anything I said.

    3. One judge insinuated that I needed to have a wider scope for this project i.e. what is the purpose. That was helpful because I think judges would have a better time understanding the significance.

    4. Breakfast was fantastic! Lunch was subpar. The should have had cookies.

    5. See number 1.

    6. During the mock science fair, I practiced my presentation, so I saw what I needed to do for the judges. It also gave me incentive to finish my poster so I could get a good night sleep before the night of the fair.

    7. I need to explain myself in a more understandable way for the judges, rather than assuming they know everything I do. Also, need to show them why this project is significant.

    8. I looked at other people’s projects, but none of them struck me. One girl was also doing a project on the immune response, looking under microscopes at stained tissue. I saw some proposals, but they weren’t impressive because they didn’t have research to back up their claims

    8. I talked to the student who did a project similar to mine. Her name was Isha. Then, I talked to a kid named Seth who did a proposal on Hermit Crabs. And I talked to a kid from Joel Barlow named Peter.

    9. I feel like we need to work on giving presentations, especially when it’s a really high level project. Its hard to figure out how to get people to understand.

    10. 2. Shoulda had cookies and better judges.

    ReplyDelete
  38. 1. What was your overall impression of the SCISEF Fair? Specifically, what things did you enjoy about the fair? Did the fair meet your expectations? In what ways was it similar or different to what you anticipated or experienced in the past?
    I thought SCISEF was great. The keynote speaker was one of the highlights. I thought the fair was organized and everything was well prepared. I think my experience at SCISEF has been similar to the past. They always have interesting speakers. However, the lunch was definitely better at past fairs.

    2. What was the judging process like? Were the judges fair and helpful?
    The judging was helpful in general. They listened intently and asked good questions.

    3. What was the most helpful comment from the Judges? Least helpful?
    I believe the most helpful comment was their suggestion to talk about more of the research that I did and explain the procedures more in detail. However, since a large part of my project is understanding the background, it was hard to incorporate everything. I believe the least helpful comment was to incorporate the institution that I worked at. I think this could have resulted in a bias.

    4. How was the food (breakfast and lunch)?
    I did not have breakfast at the fair and the lunch wraps were mediocre. Everything else was fine.

    5. Did you enjoy the Keynote presentation by David Pogue? Explain.
    I really enjoyed his presentation because it was humorous and it was simple to follow. The presentation was interesting because of the topics that he chose.

    6. In what way(s) do you think the Mock Science Fair helped prepare you for the fair?
    I think the Mock Science Fair helped me to practice my presentation in front of an audience. At home, I would practice by myself, but it was different when I presented for others.

    7. Did you learn anything new about your project? If so, what can you do to improve it for the next fair?
    I learned that the drug I worked with could be able to kill malignant cells, but also healthy cells. For the next fair, I am going to talk more about my role in the project.

    8. Did you have time to view other student projects? Which project(s) left a lasting impression? why?
    I looked around at other projects, but I did not observe any too closely. If the visual of the poster stood out, I was a little more interested. I thought the printed posters looked more professional because they were neat and organized well.

    9. Did you talk to students from other schools? Explain.
    No, I thought there was a barrier between us. It is hard to talk to other students whom you are meeting for this first time.

    10. What can we do to better prepare students for upcoming science fairs, if anything?
    I think extra practice is the best thing. I think we should critique projects more closely so that we will be more prepared for the real presentation.
    10. Overall on a scale of 1 (terrible) to 5 (amazing) --> How enjoyable was your SCSEF experience?
    I thought SCISEF was a 4. I had fun at the fair, but I wish I was able to meet the other students. Also, I wished that the lunch could have been better.

    ReplyDelete
  39. 1. What was your overall impression of the SCISEF Fair? Specifically, what things did you enjoy about the fair? Did the fair meet your expectations? In what ways was it similar or different to what you anticipated or experienced in the past?

    This year, I really did not enjoy the SCISEF Fair. The food was lousy and my judges were unable to understand the importance of my project. They showed very little interest in my project which put me at a disadvantage. Also, David Pogue spoke for WAY TOO LONG.


    2. What was the judging process like? Were the judges fair and helpful?

    I thought the judges were unfair and not very helpful. They showed no interest in my project and the failed to understand its importance to the whole population of Nepal.

    3. What was the most helpful comment from the Judges? Least helpful?

    At times, I had no idea what the judges were asking me, so I attempted to answer their questions, but they were very critical. They didn’t really give me any advice.

    4. How was the food (breakfast and lunch)?

    Absolutely awful.

    5. Did you enjoy the Keynote presentation by David Pogue? Explain.

    In terms of his presentation, I would say yes. But it was way too long and he took it way to far. There were things he shouldn’t have said. Also, his presentation didn’t have a moral. He just talked about himself and the shows, not what we can do to excel in science. He isn’t even a scientist.

    6. In what way(s) do you think the Mock Science Fair helped prepare you for the fair?

    It helped me a lot with the presentation. I was tight on time so the Mock helped me get to my important areas in the allotted time.

    7. Did you learn anything new about your project? If so, what can you do to improve it for the next fair?

    I can bring it a lot further than where it is now.

    8. Did you have time to view other student projects? Which project(s) left a lasting impression? why?

    No, but I was surprised how messy some other posters were.

    9. Did you talk to students from other schools? Explain.

    No.

    10. What can we do to better prepare students for upcoming science fairs, if anything?

    I think we should work on effective ways to put our posters together and how to give a killer presentation, because I feel like these were my two very weak areas.

    11. Overall on a scale of 1 (terrible) to 5 (amazing) --> How enjoyable was your SCSEF experience?

    I would have to give it a 2. I had an awful time with my judges, the food, and Pogue’s long somewhat insensitive presentation.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Kimberly Liang

    1. Overall, I enjoyed SCISEF. I enjoyed meeting other students, judges, and volunteers who had the same interests as me. The science fair portion met my expectations, but the food fell grossly below my expectations.  The judging process and method of presentation were similar to what I experienced in the past.

    2. The judging process was very organized. Each judge arrived on time and listened intently while my team and I presented. Afterwards, they gave helpful feedback.

    3. The most helpful comment was to solve the problem of eliminating our target pest. All of the comments my team received were helpful; we will definitely include the feedback in the continuation of our project.

    4. The food was terribly unpleasant. The breakfast and food had monstrous portions and did not seem to be fresh – I ate a bagel that was almost completely hard. The tortilla on the wraps was also hard and did not have the usual texture of a tortilla. The filling of my wrap (Italian Combo) tasted absolutely disgusting. The unidentifiable meat was oddly chewy and had a bad taste. I was looking to replenishing myself after a long day of presenting, but the lunch food killed my spirits.

    5. Yes, the keynote presentation was wonderful! He engaged the audience and kept the atmosphere relaxed and fun. I especially enjoyed his puns and musical talent.

    6. The Mock Science helped my team and I prepare our speeches after creating a script. At the Mock Science Fair, we were able to experience what it was like presenting our tri-fold for the first time. The feedback our classmates gave was also extremely helpful in improving the quality of the presentation.

    7. No, I did not learn anything new. However, I received feedback that was extremely helpful.

    8. Yes. I talked to a student who presented next to me. We conversed about the difficult questions the judges asked us.

    9. I think we should have a Mock Science Fair earlier before the actual fair. This way we will be able to revise our presentations according to our classmate’s feedback with a good amount of time before SCISEF.

    10. 4 (only because of the food!)

    ReplyDelete
  41. 1. I really enjoyed the fair. I liked the experience much better than last year’s fair. This year, I felt a lot more confident regarding both my project and presentation. The fair definitely met my expectations. The most enjoyable parts of the fair, in my opinion was looking at all the different projects and, of course, David Pogue. His keynote presentation was phenomenal and really tied the fair together. Because of him, I thought this fair was much better than last year’s.

    2. The judging process was okay. Personally, I believed that my presentation was the best I have ever done. I think that I was clear at explaining the more complicated aspects of my project and did a good job conveying to them what I was doing. However, some of the judges I received simply were not helpful at all. In my first round of judges, one of the judges did not really understand what I was talking about and asked me questions that did not relate at all to my project, so I was unable to answer them. In my second round, one of the judges was disinterested in my presentation and tuned out the entire time. The other fours judges were mostly fair and helpful,

    3. The most helpful comment from the judges came from the second round. One of the judges asked me what were some potential dangers in blocking too much CGRP, a factor I had not really considered. In my research, I did not look for potential effects of too much of it being blocked. I only knew that there were no dangerous implications, but did not know specifics. The least helpful comment was the silence of one of the judges. That judge did not look at my poster or me, did not listen to my presentation and did not ask any questions or even participate. He did not give any feedback and therefore I did not know at all how I did from his perspective.

    4. I thought that the breakfast was enjoyable but too big. The muffins were tasty but huge. Lunch was okay. I ate the vegetable wrap and it wasn’t too bad.

    5. David Pogue’s keynote presentation was the best I have ever seen. He was funny, engaging and educational. The ending with him singing really was enjoyable.

    6. I was unable to participate in the Mock Science Fair so I have no response.

    7. Besides making me research potential side-effects of too much CGRP being blocked, I did not learn anything significant about my project. For the next fair, to improve I hope to actually have results and a completed project instead of a proposal in the future.

    8. Yes, I did have time to view other student’s project. A project that left a lasting impression on me was one regarding finding the habitable zone for planets in a binary star system because I have in interest in Exoplanets, especially ones that could potentially host human or alien life.

    9. No I did not talk to other students.

    10. Really stress completing everything on time, especially the PowerPoint and presentation. Stress it so much so that everyone finishes a week early.

    11. 5 (Amazing)

    ReplyDelete
  42. Katie Meehan

    1. Overall, the fair was very fun. I enjoyed hanging out with friends and meeting new people. The fair did meet my expectations, but the school was very big and I got lost a few times. It was similar to last year’s fair, except for the food. The food was very gross.

    2. The judging process was intense. My first set of judges were emotionless and barely said anything. One lady did all of the talking in that group and accidentally said “google” instead of goggles. Another man in the first set didn’t make eye contact with me the entire time. The second set of judges were much better. All three spoke, made helpful comments, and were fair.

    3. The most helpful comment was to do a line test to test the participants’ vision beforehand. The least helpful question was to get a larger sample size.

    4. The food was ratchet. The breakfast was very good, but it was disappointing because I had already eaten breakfast and wasn’t hungry. I had a lot of coffee, which was extremely good and helped keep me awake. The lunch was extremely ratchet. I was pumped to eat some good food, but when I got to the cafeteria and opened up my wrap, I couldn’t bear to look at it. I’m still not even sure what was inside the vegetarian wrap. I had nothing to eat for lunch and had to survive on the goldfish my mom packed me.

    5. I enjoyed the keynote presentation by David Pogue. He was very exciting and kept everyone awake. The only disappointing part of his presentation was that he did not include as many puns as I would have liked. His singing was very good, also.

    6. The mock science fair helped prepare what I was going to say for the fair. Since I changed my project a few times, I had never presented it before. The mock science fair was the first time that I legitimately presented my project in front of people, and it was good to know what I was going to say before I got to the fair.

    7. I did not learn anything new about my project.

    8. I did not have a lot of time to view other student projects.

    9. Rachel and I talked to a few other students that were near us. Also, I met a girl with the same last name as me, but we are not related.

    10. To better prepare students for upcoming science fairs, we should hold more mock science fairs earlier in the year. The problem with having the mock science fair the night before the fair is that we do not have a lot of time to work on our oral presentations or make edits on our posters.

    11. On a scale of 1-5, I would give it a 4.

    ReplyDelete
  43. My overall impression of SCISEF was very nice. I had a lot of fun but I thought it was better organized at our school. The fair did meet my expectations. Also, it was similar to the fair in our school but it seemed like there were less people and the gym didn’t seem as crowded. Also, the food was better at our school than at Newtown. The judges were very nice and helpful and gave very helpful feedback, although some of their comments were not helpful. The most helpful comment made by the judges is having a control and looking at the environment of the senior center to see overall how the people living the senior felt. The least helpful comment was how they said to get a larger sample size. ----THANK YOU JUDGES FOR THE VERY OBVIOUS COMMENTS!! The food was atrocious. It was just horrible. I expected to have really good food, but we didn’t. It was much better last year. The breakfast was better than the lunch though. The portion sizes were huge. The wraps tasted like plastic. The cheese in the wrap was really gross and the cheese was tasted really weird. The food was very disappointing. *looking down and shaking my head* I almost threw up. It was horrible. JUST HORRIBLE!! The keynote presentation was very fun. David Pogue was really funny. I had really fun experience. I was learning in a fun way. I enjoyed his puns. I really like puns. The penguin joke was by far my favorite. HAHAH he aroused the penguin. The mock science fair was helpful because I was able to practice from the poster and get feedback about anything that I needed to fix. Also, I was able to get comfortable presenting to people. Something I learned about my project is that it was possible to have a control group. Future work would be testing with more participants and comparing it with the possible control group. I had time to view many people projects. One that left a lasting impression was this girl names Sofia. She did a project on color changing skin solution. She was going to use it on military trucks. The color changed due to magnetism. I talked to the people around my poster and the people around the posters of my friends. To better prepare for upcoming students, I feel like we should practice presenting to other people other than the ones in our class. On a scale of one to five, I would give it a four. I would give it a four because the food just horrendous. Other than the food, everything was good and fun. SCISEF was very enjoyable this year.


    --HARIKA LINGAREDDY

    ReplyDelete
  44. 1. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the SCISEF Fair. I enjoyed the overall atmosphere of the fair. The fair met my expectations, but I do have some critics. I thought the judging was similar to last year, but I didn't enjoy the food or having to walk far away to get the food.

    2. The judges came on time to judge me. They did a good and fair job of judging me. Their comments were mostly helpful.

    3. The most helpful comment from the judge was that I needed to continue getting more participants. The least helpful was asking me about a picture of the chemical structure.

    4. I liked the breakfast food, but the lunch meal fell short of my expectations. The wraps had too much cheese. I also wished they had more options for drinks.

    5. I thought the Keynote presentation was great! David Pogue kept the presentation interesting and I was able to connect to his experiences because we had watched his videos in class.

    6. Students in our class were able to give me helpful comments which helped me prepare for the fair.

    7. I did learn something new about my project. I can improve my project by getting more participants.

    8. I did have time to view other students projects. The project that left a memorable impression was on the effect of aderall and cocaine on mice. It was very unique!

    8. I didn't talk to students from other schools. I mainly stayed at my poster and waited for the judges.

    9. I think Amity is doing a great job preparing us for science fairs. The mock science fair is extremely helpful.

    10. I would give it a 4. Overall I had a good time, but I wanted better food options.

    -Ryan Oleynik

    ReplyDelete
  45. 1. Overall, SCSEF was a very fun fair with a variety of different projects that were fun to look at and easy to immerse yourself into. I liked the whole atmosphere at the fair and the Keynote speaker was absolutely fantastic. The fair exceeded my expectations by a lot. SCSEF was similar to what i have experienced in the past, but it was still fun nonetheless.
    2. The judging process appeared a little different than it has been in the past as the judges were not writing anything down during the presentation. Because of this i felt that they were able to immerse themselves more into my project therefore they had better input on my project. The advice that they did give was very helpful for either the next set of judges or for future presentations.
    3. The most helpful comment from the judges was that we should focus more on our backstory, our purpose. But when they began asking questions about small details that were not very relivant to the project, i thought they were not very helpful.
    4. The food was not up to par at the science fair. The wraps lacked both variety of choices and taste. Breakfast, being better than lunch, was still dry and tasteless for the most part.
    5. The Keynote presentation was amazing. He was very entertaining using a variety of different tactics to keep the audience on his side. The way he ended it, with a song he made, was a great way to end off his amazing performance.
    6. The mock science fair allowed me to become accustom to what was on my poster and split up the presentation with my fellow group members.
    7. I learned a few things, that the backstory needs more detail. Next fair i will make sure to explain more of the purpose behind why we are actually doing this study.
    8. I took a gander at other projects, but the only one that i can really remember was a proposal to give mice cocaine and addiral. It was a very unique project. Never have i seen something quite like that before.
    8. For the most part, i did not talk to students from other schools. I am not the most talkative person around. I talked a little the the presenter next to us between judging rounds, but besides that i did not talk much.
    9. I feel that if students had more time to become aquainted with their posters and had more time to present it before the fair the whole process may have gone a little bit smoother.
    10. 4, it was fun, but bad food.

    -Levi Santos

    ReplyDelete
  46. 1. What was your overall impression of the SCISEF Fair? Specifically, what things did you enjoy about the fair? Did the fair meet your expectations? In what ways was it similar or different to what you anticipated or experienced in the past?
    The fair was fairish. No, it was actually good. Lots of participants and many others who came to see the projects. The judging seemed more organized this year. Overall, it was a good fair.
    2. What was the judging process like? Were the judges fair and helpful?
    The judges were interested and interesting. The first round was less interactive, but for the second round, all judges seemed to want to give helpful feedback and comments.
    3. What was the most helpful comment from the Judges? Least helpful?
    The most helpful comments were about how else to analyze or present my data. The least helpful asked how it was that I had fun counting grass.
    4. How was the food (breakfast and lunch)?
    Breakfast was good. Lunch was subpar. The wraps were large, but rather dry with a lack of condiments. There were not many drink options.
    5. Did you enjoy the Keynote presentation by David Pogue? Explain.
    YES! Very much! David Pogue is a great guy and an even better presenter, using humor and puns like a master. He was phenomenal and engaged everyone in his talk. His song at the end was the icing on the cake. Meeting and taking a photo with him made it even better.
    6. In what way (s) do you think the Mock Science Fair helped prepare you for the fair?
    I think it helped in that we got to present in front of others as a way to prepare.
    7. Did you learn anything new about your project? If so, what can you do to improve it for the next fair?
    I learned how better to analyze and present my data. I can improve both of those for the next fair.
    8. Did you have time to view other student projects? Which project(s) left a lasting impression? why?
    I did not have time to view other students project, however many looked impressive.
    8. Did you talk to students from other schools? Explain.
    No I did not.
    9. What can we do to better prepare students for upcoming science fairs, if anything?
    Work on posters in class. More presentations practice.
    10. Overall on a scale of 1 (terrible) to 5 (amazing) --> How enjoyable was your SCSEF experience?
    4.5

    ReplyDelete
  47. Harsha Lingareddy
    1.
    The science fair went well. I loved presenting to the judges. Yes it did meet my expectations. It was quite similar to last year. Newtown did a great job hosting the fair.
    2. It was good the only downside was that our judges came in really late for the first round. I liked how the rounds were right after another.
    3. There weren’t many comments.
    4. Breakfast was good and lunch was horrible
    5. The keynote speaker was good but he was too informal and his jokes were not that funny. His songs were just annoying and not even funny.
    6. Helped us understand what we might want to say for the science fair and allowed us to present as a group.
    7. I think it would be helpful to make a cad model of our design.
    8. Yes I viewed one about Rockets.
    9. No
    10. More mock science fairs
    11. 4

    ReplyDelete
  48. 1. It was nothing what i expected. I thought that we would be doing presentation involved things the whole time instead of just 10 min. The rest of the time my friends and I were just roaming around not really doing anything. I enjoyed the speaker, he was pretty funny.
    2. The first set of judges were better than the second. in the first, all of the judges asked good questions and gave me improvements to say in my next presentation. One actual said I could change the world with my experiment, but I can't tell if he was joking or not.The second set, only one judge asked random questions and interrupted me many times during my presentation
    3. The most helpful comment: talk about future experiments
    The least helpful: Your writing is big enough(this was by an old lady with glasses and my font size was 34)
    4.I liked the food especially the turkey sandwiches and croissants
    5. Yes, he was pretty funny, and I actual knew what he was talking about because we watched his videos in class
    6. The comments i got helped me out. My presentation was too short during this fair, so when i got to the actual fair i explained more
    7. One of the judges gave me an idea for a future experiment: to keep the background white and change the color of the numbers
    8. I had a lot of time to view other projects but i didn't spend all that time doing that. I probably viewed about 10 including my friends. One that left a lasting impression was one about rockets and nose cone shape because that is pretty interesting and launching rockets is pretty fun.
    9. Not really, i just stayed with people from our school
    10. Give students things to do in between their presentations
    11. 3.5

    ReplyDelete
  49. 1. What was your overall impression of the SCISEF Fair? Specifically, what things did you enjoy about the fair? Did the fair meet your expectations? In what ways was it similar or different to what you anticipated or experienced in the past?
    My impression of the science fair was very good. I really enjoyed hearing the judges' feedback and looking at other interesting project ideas. It surpassed my expectations, since I thought the judges would be a lot more critical rather than sympathizing with my own opinions. I anticipated having to explain more in depth to most of the judges, but I was lucky to get software engineers to judge me.
    2. What was the judging process like? Were the judges fair and helpful?
    The judging process was very stressful and nerve-racking. My judges were very fair and helpful.
    3. What was the most helpful comment from the Judges? Least helpful?
    The most helpful comment included ideas to make the project easier for me to create. They all felt it was a very difficult undertaking by me and that I should have searched for easier solutions. I remember one judge giving me the site information to a lot of source code for applications that read words on sight. The source code took English grammar and determined where characters that it was unsure about should go. The least helpful comment was when one of my judges was a bit slower to absorb the content and asked me what my project was assessing once I had finished my presentation.
    4. How was the food (breakfast and lunch)?
    Breakfast was good, but the wraps during lunch weren't as appetizing.
    5. Did you enjoy the Keynote presentation by David Pogue? Explain.
    I enjoyed it. I felt that it was a lot funnier compared to other presentations, as well as interesting.
    6. In what way(s) do you think the Mock Science Fair helped prepare you for the fair?
    I think it prepared me for the pressure of presenting to my peers.
    7. Did you learn anything new about your project? If so, what can you do to improve it for the next fair?
    I learned that it was completely unreasonable, which I was skeptical about while coding. To improve it, I will follow the feedback from my judges and make it simpler to make and test.
    8. Did you have time to view other student projects? Which project(s) left a lasting impression? why?
    I had time to view other student projects. I remember one project that was talking about space theories, but nothing else other than that. It was really complicated and it made me incredibly nervous standing next to his poster.
    8. Did you talk to students from other schools? Explain.
    No, I mainly talked with friends.
    9. What can we do to better prepare students for upcoming science fairs, if anything?
    To better prepare students for upcoming science fairs, just having more presentation practice in class would be very helpful to help prevent stress during the actual fair.
    10. Overall on a scale of 1 (terrible) to 5 (amazing) --> How enjoyable was your SCSEF experience?
    4

    ReplyDelete
  50. 1. What was your overall impression of the SCISEF Fair? Specifically, what things did you enjoy about the fair? Did the fair meet your expectations? In what ways was it similar or different to what you anticipated or experienced in the past?

    I was impressed at how smooth the fair was conducted, and the superb qualifications of the judges - most of them were clearly experienced scientists. Because of this, I expected the judges to be harsh but they were friendly. Overall the fair was professional but not too dry/boring either.

    2. What was the judging process like? Were the judges fair and helpful?

    Both rounds of my judging were right on time, which was probably due to the fact that they were early - 10:00 and 10:30. The judges were really nice and understanding, and they paid attention and asked questions. The second round of judges asked the most difficult questions, mostly about statistical analysis that I wasn't familiar with. They also gave me a lot of helpful advice for my tire project, like contacting tire companies, writing them letters, and they wanted me to test in snow, sand, water, and sand with water, and test tread wear and all different types of traction - I agreed but testing what I did (just on a sand course) took enough time/effort/money/frustration as it did and it would probably take me at least 5 months to conduct and analyze everything they wanted me to.

    3. What was the most helpful comment from the Judges? Least helpful?

    The most helpful comments were suggestions to improve my background info and gather more knowledge, which was lacking. I don't think there were any non-helpful comments.

    4. How was the food (breakfast and lunch)?

    I already ate breakfast at home, so I did not eat breakfast there. However, I thought the selection of bagels, muffins, and pastries was good and the coffee, tea, milk, etc. was good for getting exhibitors/judges energized. I also did not know lunch was free so I had brought my own lunch. The wraps looked decent but my friends did not seem to enjoy them much.

    5. Did you enjoy the Keynote presentation by David Pogue? Explain.

    Yes, David Pogue was a smooth, entertaining speaker; he talked about his shows, his work, and interesting science topics; he was confident and well-experienced. I'm glad I got to hear someone like him speak - how did we get him to this science fair??

    6. In what way(s) do you think the Mock Science Fair helped prepare you for the fair?

    By presenting my poster twice, I already had in my mind a rough idea of how and what to say.

    7. Did you learn anything new about your project? If so, what can you do to improve it for the next fair?

    I learned my project's topic is too old and needs a lot more variables to be tested in order to be really impressive.

    8. Did you have time to view other student projects? Which project(s) left a lasting impression? why?

    The most impressive projects were ones that were clear to understand/interesting, particularly the ones on behavior. Some of the projects were so complicated I had a hard time believing the students could have actually come up with the idea, carried it out, and analyzed all the data.

    8. Did you talk to students from other schools? Explain.

    Yes, I met a girl from Darien who was very nice but I don't think her project was her idea - it was way too complicated, especially for a first year student like her.

    9. What can we do to better prepare students for upcoming science fairs, if anything?

    Require students in 8th grade who are thinking of joining SciRes in high school to visit SCISEF or a science symposium - having a sibling in the program, I was already somewhat familiar with how these fairs work.

    10. Overall on a scale of 1 (terrible) to 5 (amazing) --> How enjoyable was your SCSEF experience?

    4 - cons = long, sometimes boring, actually presenting your project
    pros = looking at other students' projects, hearing David Pogue talk, talking to your friends

    ReplyDelete
  51. 1. SCISEF was very enjoyable. The food was quite tasty and the keynote speaker was very funny. The fair was better than I expected as I was not prepared to have so much free time to spend with my group and friends. It was similar to my interpretation of a science fair as it had us presenting in the gym of a school. However, it was different that there was a keynote speaker who talked to us about STEM.
    2.The judging process was sufficient. All of them listened intently, observed the poster well, and asked detailed questions that required collaboration of the group to answer. All of them were fair and helpful and the suggestions of the first judges allowed us to improve our presentation to the second ones.
    3.The most helpful comment was by a judge who asked us about how the landing gear was operated, by hand or with hydraulics. The least helpful comments were the comments that were never made and therefore couldn't help us improve.
    4. Breakfast was good. The bagels provided filled the stomach while the coffee offered a welcomed boost to my energy levels.Lunch was tasty and offered a plethora of wraps for everyone along with chips and water.
    5.David Pogue was excellent. He was humorous and a decent presenter. He found a way to incorporate humor into a normally serious subject. And while his whole presentation seemed to be just for laughs, he found a way to tie it back in to the serious atmosphere of the fair.
    6.The mock science fair helped me find which slides I presented best on, which were the slides that I presented to the judges.
    7.No, there was nothing the judges told me that helped. While they asked good questions, we could answer them all and therefore did not learn.
    8.Yes. Nick Yoo's presentation on rockets. His poster board was impeccable and the research he conducted was flawless.
    9.The mock science fair is best because it prepares the students to be present.
    10. 4.5

    ReplyDelete
  52. 1. Overall, SCISEF was pretty good. I enjoyed last year's a bit more, but Newtown still did a great job hosting it. I loved the diversity of the projects. For example, my project was in between a girl who made an artificial skin for automobiles and a boy who did a project on dinosaurs. Overall, it met my expectations. The diversity of projects was still pretty similar to SCISEF last year and even the Norwalk Science Fair. Unlike SCISEF last year, the judges were more on time, and they seemed to be friendlier as well. Overall, 2014 SCISEF was a great fair.

    2. The judging process was much more organized this year. The judges showed up when they were supposed to, and they were very laid back. They also seemed to be very interested in what the students had to say. The judges were extremely helpful in giving me ideas to improve my project. They were also very fair in understanding how nervous we all were, and didn't mind if we made a mistake while presenting.

    3. The most helpful idea a judge gave me was to have my pie charts match. Without looking at the keys first, it looks like the data changed drastically. It is not a drastic change, but a very important and basic one. In fact, they didn't really give me any irrelevant/unhelpful advice.

    4. Personally, I think the food was better last year. I didn't have breakfast last year, so I can't compare this year's to anything. However, I did have a muffin, which was pretty good. Lunch was definitely better last year. The wraps this year were just kind of weirdly large/dry and just not that great. Also, I was not there for the chips, oh no. I liked the water though. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm, water.

    5. DAVID POGUE WAS THE BEST PART OF THE FAIR HANDS DOWN. I KID YOU NOT, HE WAS AMAZING. NOT ONLY WAS HE EXTREMELY KNOWLEDGEABLE, HE CONNECTED WITH EACH AND EVERY MEMBER OF THAT AUDIENCE. From his rather mentally scarring joke to the awesome song at the end, he was the best presenter I have ever seen. Also, taking a picture with him made it 91489204239048298249048275824823904820 times better. But if we got him to present at our symposium that would make me very VERY happy. (I know, that was a very subtle hint)

    6. The mock science fair can help you get ready for the fair, but only to some extent. It made me more comfortable with presenting my project, especially since it was my first time formally presenting it to anyone. However, I think just diving into the fair is the best way to get comfortable. However, it really helped me plan what I was going to say to the judges.

    7. I didn't really learn much about my project, but I did learn that I could present my pie charts much better. Other than that, I didn't learn anything new about my project in particular.

    8. I did have time to look around at other projects. For example, I saw a couple that ranged from another rats and cocaine project (I heard that Peter did a similar project), and the artificial skin project that I mentioned earlier. This girl named Sofia (whose project was the artificial skin one) was honestly the coolest thing ever. It changes color as magnetism increases, and it was just all around super-cool.

    8. I did talk to Sofia, because her project was just so cool that I couldn't deal with it. She let me play with a vial of the liquid skin and a magnet, and I played with it for like 10 minutes. It was kind of embarrassing. Oops. Regardless, her project was super cool, and I guess we sorta became friends after that.

    9. We should definitely present more in class. Perhaps we could have like total strangers or random teachers to present to, just to simulate the whole "presenting to total strangers" thing. It would probably make people more comfortable.

    10. 4

    ReplyDelete
  53. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the SCISEF Fair because of our class meet for indoor track. I remembered my peers as I prepared to run the 1600. I remember thinking, “It would be really embarrassing if I missed the fair and didn’t even qualify for opens.” My absence was surely a motivational force! I knew that I was in a good state of mind prior to the race and was also reassured by my seed number, (#7) my lucky number. I was originally seeded 8th with a 5:24, but I found out that someone scratched when I was checking in. My plan was to stay with the second pack, considering I wasn’t going to run a 4:55 or 5 minute mile. I was hoping to run under a 5:20 (to prove to my coache that I can)and to qualify for freshman nationals. When we were put into our positions I was happy to find out that our staggered start had me in the front row, 2 places from the inside. I’ve never started like that but it was REALLY helpful because I got right out in front, not stuck in a pack. I was actually a little too much in the front because Debalsi was running behind me, which should not have been happening. Maybe that’s why our first lap was a little slow…Anyways I forget what happened the rest of the race because I kind of zoned out and I just ran 7 more laps. I always remember the last couple though because I have a problem with kicking too late. This time I kicked around the start of the 7th lap which was good even though I didn’t totally sprint the last 100 like I normally do because no one was right on me. It was also aggravating because there was someone ahead of me by about 15 meters and I was closing in on them then they picked it up A LOT, so I was all alone even though I should have tried to catch her. I finished with a 5:21, one second away from nationals!!! But, I got 6th and qualified for opens! Now I’m seeded 14th for the Open (the top 18 in the state for each event) which is actually in the first heat but in the middle, so I still have people to chase. My goal for that is a 5:17 and I need to do what I did this time where I don’t go ahhh and “maintain” for the middle laps but try to pick people off slowly. (I did a good job of that this time) I’m excited for the open because I will be able to buy a sweatshirt! I most likely won’t be in the top six which will allow you to advance to New Englands because there are around 5 people who run under a 5 minute. I had a much better chance in cross country when I could have made it if I had the same race as I did at LL. Also!!! I was happy with 6th because we are in class LL, which is the hardest class.
    The 4x8 team also qualified! So, the slowest leg won’t be there at opens so they expected me to anchor, but my coaches said I should focus on the 1600 so I can qualify for nationals becase the 4x8 has an extremely minimal chance of qualifying for New Englands anyways. ALSO I almost ran the 4x4 which I might have to run at Opens because someone is injured so the other alternate had to run this time. She had just eaten lunch, and had run a race and (one but she basically jogged) and didn’t cool down! Fortunately, they were the last ones to qualify for the open because the other legs did badly and my coach says that she “missed her chance”, so I will have to “prove myself or not come back” in the 4x4 which is pretty exciting and stressful because the last time I ran a 400 was in middle school (was pretty good), but not against the fastest people in the state… hopefully she gets better. So, overall I’m really excited for the Open and I was successful at the class meet!
    As for actual science, I did attend the Mock science fair which was extremely helpful! I presented twice but It really helped solidify my presentation and view my peer’s projects. That was a 5 overall.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Teddy Hague
    Day Period 4
    2/11/14

    1. Overall, I thought the SCISEF Fair was good. I thought the system by which presenters and judges were stationed was very efficient, and allowed presenters to have a general idea of their itinerary for the day. Specifically, I enjoyed the breakfast, and the generosity of the judges.
    2. As stated previously, our judges were polite and respectful. I heard some stories of judges that were unkind and/or impolite, but that was not the case with our presentations. During the first round of judges, we had a substitute judge, who didn’t exactly know what he was supposed to be doing. All in all, the judges were very nice to our team and respected our presentation.
    3. One judge suggested we use carbon fiber in the future to redesign the drag brace of the Corsair in our final challenge, which is a very viable option. We didn’t have too many comments after our presentations, but I thought that the few that we did receive were helpful in some way. In other words, I don’t think any of them weren’t helpful.
    4. Breakfast was spectacular; it hit the spot. The bagels were fresh and delightful. In addition, the orange juice was legitimate Tropicana, as opposed to Sunny D or other ingenuine juices. It wasn’t from concentrate, which really added to the experience. Lunch was pretty good, although I think they mixed up the signs that said cheese vs. no cheese. Overall, the food was great.
    5. David Pogue was great. From what I have heard, last year was extremely boring, and people were much more optimistic this year. His jokes were funny, and he did a great job of tying our scientific lives in with his. Lastly, the NOVA show about which he presented was very intriguing.
    6. The Mock Science Fair helped to a certain extent. It solidified our knowledge of the material on our presentation, and helped to develop our presentation skills. However, we had a team project, so the way we divided up the slides during the Mock Science Fair was bound to be different than the actual SCISEF, because Ben and Shaunak are in the other class. This order of slides was decided about 20 minutes before our first presentation, which could have kept us from winning the gold. 2nd place is still awesome, though.
    7. I didn’t learn much from the judges or others that I didn’t already know. The judges had few comments for our presentation, however one judge suggested we use carbon fiber as the material for the drag brace, which could be helpful in the future.
    8. I had some spare time after presentations, but I was preoccupied in the cafeteria eating. However, I did see one project that later turned out to be an Honorable Mention. It was very intricate and discussed very small particles in cells. I don’t remember the exact title.
    9. I didn’t talk to students from other schools. I primarily hung out with Sikorsky team members and other Year 1 friends from Amity.
    10. Not that we had much control over this, given all of the recent snow days, but a little more time would be better in preparation for this fair. I think possibly presenting to the class for practice, and spreading out all presentations over a few days would be helpful. Like I said, we as humans don't exactly have much say in the weather.
    11. 4- I had a great time. Everything was fantastic except for the fact that the afternoon dragged on a bit.

    ReplyDelete
  55. 1. I thought the SCISEF Fair was very fun and well organized. I thought the whole fair itself, being able to see your friends' projects and what they've been doing, was very enlightening. I think that the fair met my expectations and

    2. The judging process was very nerve wracking, however I do think that the judges were very fair and helpful.

    3. No comments were given to me on my poster/project, the judges mainly asked me questions.

    4. I thought the breakfast was very delicious and there were many options and choices. However, the lunch was a lot less appetizing. Though there were many different wraps that one could select, they were all very large and the descriptions given to them were not very detailed. Someone might choose one wrap, but not completely know what was inside and thus would have to either finish the whole wrap or throw it out and waste the food. If the wraps were cut in halves or fourths then it could be easier to sample them and pick the one you liked without having to eat a huge tortilla wrap. Also, if the descriptions such as “italian combo” listed the ingredients inside then one could make a more informed decision about their wrap choice.

    5. I really enjoyed the keynote presentation and thought it was quite humorous and also very informative.

    6. I think the Mock Science Fair really helped to prepare someone who was doing a science fair for the first time. Specifically, having someone ask you questions about the project and telling you improvements can really help your presentation when you do get judged.

    7. I learned more about my project when my judges asked me questions concerning the implications and possible uses of my creativity app. By answering their question I was able to discover more about the real implications of my project.

    8. I had about a half-hour to view other presentations and the one that had a lasting impression on me was the one about creating an alternative energy source using recycled materials.

    8. I didn't talk to other students from other schools and mainly stayed at my poster for the duration of the fair.

    9. I think that the mock science fair was the biggest help to preparing students and that not much else can prepare someone for the science fair besides just going and experiencing it for yourself.

    10. I would rate my experience as a 4, the main downside was probably the lunch for me.

    ReplyDelete
  56. 1. I felt the fair this year was quite successful. My judges were on time for the most part. This is the first year for me that SCSEF has not been at Amity. I think this school was also a good place to hold the fair. It was quite large and very nice. The proceedings all went as I expected. I enjoyed the breakfast and David Pogue’s presentation.
    2. I had both good and bad experiences with my judges and the process of judging. The first round of judges proceeded without a hitch. While waiting for my second round, a group of three judges came to my project and asked to hear about it. Upon arriving to me, they informed me that they were not actually my judges and they just wanted to hear an informal presentation of my research. So I presented to them and afterwards we discussed how novel my research is and others in the same field. (Quite frankly I wish they were my judges. They were incredibly friendly and had only nice things to say) Shortly after they left, my real judges came over. After introducing myself, I planned on stating the name of my project then allowing them some time to look over my poster. I was cut off in the middle of stating my name because they thought I wasn’t going to give them time to look the poster over. I apologized and allowed them time to look. This happening got me quite flustered to start off. Then, once they were ready, I began my speech. Not even a minute into my presentation, I noticed one of the judges looking around and not paying attention. Then approximately thirty seconds after, that same judge took out a pack of gum, unwrapped the package, opened it up, took his piece out, and began to chew it. The process of taking his gum out seemed as if it took forever. On top of being flustered from the beginning, I now was extremely distracted. I decided just to ignore that judge and focus on the other two. Without the distractions, I got back on track and was able to finish the presentation without a hitch.
    3. The most helpful comment I got from judges were from the judges that were not my own. One of them had done research in my field and suggested to research not only the perceived impact on the adolescent, but the perceived impact of having chronic pain on the family by the person with chronic pain themselves and compare the two as further research. I thought that added another really interesting dynamic to what I was doing. I don’t think I got a comment that was not helpful in some manner. I was asked a question that was, in my opinion, not very relevant though (of course it was asked by the gum-chewing judge). He asked the meaning of the standard deviation of data that was not my own.
    4. The food was good. I was surprised by the quality of breakfast and that they had coffee readily available to everyone. Lunch was good okay. I heard complaints that there were no cookies though.
    5. I enjoyed David Pogue’s presentation immensely. It was interesting to hear about his experiences in science coming from a musical background. I had no idea that he wasn’t a true scientist. It was far more interesting than last years although his opening joke was a bit on the awkward side.
    6. Just presenting in the mock science fair helped me prepare. The comments I got from my peers were not particularly helpful, but I was able to work out some kinks in the oral aspect of my presentation.
    7. I’m not sure if I necessarily learned anything new about my project itself, but I learned a lot about what to talk about and the order in which I should do it.
    8. I did not spend a lot of time looking at other student’s projects. Some posters stood out to me for the mere fact that they were either impressive looking or very unprofessional.
    9. I did not talk to students from other schools.
    10. No
    11. 4

    ReplyDelete
  57. Felicia Thomas
    1. My overall impression of the SCISEF Fair was that it was a very professional atmosphere. This fair was very serious and not for slackers. I enjoyed being able to present and get positive feedback and advice from the judges. The fair for the most part did meet my expectations and was not what I expected. I thought the fair was much larger than anticipated with many more students than I imagined.

    2. The judging process was not as nerve-racking as I thought it was going to be. The judges were very fair and helpful, except for one judge who did not seem to be interested and was a little rude. As I was trying to begin my presentation by introducing myself, he interrupted me to say he needed to review my board first. I felt that if he waited for a second he would have realized that I was getting there and wouldn’t have needed to interrupt me.

    3. The most helpful comments that I received was all of the encouragement and helpful ideas for future work based on my project. I did not receive any negative comments and I thought if any comments were considered negative, I viewed them more like helpful criticism.

    4. For breakfast, I had a plain bagel which was good, although I wish there was apple juice and not just orange juice for people who don’t drink coffee. I did not enjoy the food for lunch at all, the wraps were not appetizing and I didn’t like the cheese on the wraps. Basically, I feel that the food selection should have been greater.

    5. The keynote speaker, David Pogue, had a very good and entertaining presentation. David Pogue made the presentation funny and interesting for everyone. Although his speaking time was long, I still enjoyed listening and watching the videos from his show. I was able to learn many new things that I did not know.

    6. I feel that being prepped with the mock science fair helped me to get some of my nerves out and gain some confidence in my presenting skills. The mock science fair also helped to reorganize my presentation and pull all the loose ends together before the SCISEF fair.

    7. I learned a lot about my project that I didn’t realize, like one judge pointed out that I may have been testing if a calm and relaxing session or time period helps children by decreasing their stress, rather than testing the exercise. I also learned that I really did know my project and didn’t need to use my board, it was really only there for the visual aspect. This will help me to improve with my presenting skills next year and reduce the nerves.

    8. I did have time to review other kid’s science projects which were all really well thought out and well executed. Those projects left a lasting impression because they were so thought out and it was also exciting to see all of the results and conclusions of the experiments.

    9. I did not talk to any students from the other schools at the fair; I only interacted with students from Amity.

    10. To better prepare students for upcoming science fairs, I would recommend the incoming students to be relaxed and to not actually present to the judges. Having a conversation with the judges makes the presentation less boring and more interesting. I was able to a nice conversation and talked to them regularly about the study.

    11. Overall, I would rate my SCISEF experience a 4 out of 5. Everything went well for me, but the food I thought could be improved with more options. The judge’s attitude should be more proper and they should actually listen to the presenter before jumping into their presentation. SCISEF was a good, positive experience which I did enjoy!

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  58. 1. Overall, the fair was a good experience for me. I got to interact with the judges and get receive advice from them. I liked how the judging process was simple and quick. The fair was not what I expected. I expected more people because of the 11 schools.
    2. The first round of judges came 45 mins early, and I was not present at my poster. My next door neighbor had to find me (although not very far away) but still a bad impression (thanks Kristin I think…). They were the type of scary judges I imagined, who asked a lot of questions and gave little helpful comments. The second round came earlier as well, but I was at my poster (learned my lesson). They were really comical and outgoing, allowing me to have an actual conversation with them. They were helpful and gave advice.
    3. The most helpful comment was to try using a different way in conducting the study, such as different predators, environment, setting, etc. The least helpful if I could actually keep count of the chirps.
    4. I didn’t eat breakfast because I had to make sure my project was listed under environmental rather than behavioral. I ate at home. The lunch was okay, but I think there should be an option of putting your own cheese in the wrap, because I don’t like Swiss.
    5. YES I did! David Pogue was entertaining and not boring to listen to as he is really comical. I have heard from upperclassmen that some previous keynote speakers are really boring to listen to because usually the presentations are an hour long. Pogue raised the bar. It was nice to review the Making Stuff videos he put on the powerpoint.
    6. The mock science fair helped me prepare my presentation. Other students’ advice and comments helped. Only one visitor visited, and I got the chance to present my poster to him, so I got the experience of what it was like to present to a judge/stranger. It helped me with getting out of the comfort zone.
    7. I didn’t learn that much except one of the judges from the first round pointed out I had two hypotheses going at the same time, which I believe is not true.
    8. I did have time before and after my judging times. I loved the wide range of topics all the students explored. Some were really complex and difficult to even read and understand. I do remember one poster which stood taller than the rest and had so much text on it that it stood out. It was being filmed as well. The student has found a way to develop skin that could change color to be camouflaged. For example, for the military, soldiers or tools can use them. It was really interesting. Another was on the topic of the coral reef in the Caribbean’s. All these projects were diverse and interesting.
    9. I did ask some students who were standing by their posters to tell me about their study. I talked with students from 3 schools. They are nice people.
    10. I feel like the mock trial was not long enough. It was only one day, and was supposed to be held for two. The snow day messed the schedule up a bit.
    11. I’d give it a 4. It was a great experience as a first timer. The atmosphere was nice and the setting was nice as well. 50% of my judges were easy to talk with. The food was average, and David Pogue was entertaining. I’ll love to see how SCISEF will change next year.

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  59. Aria Mohseni
    Track Meet Blog

    1. Although I was not able to attend the SCISEF Science Fair on Saturday, I was able to attend a State Track Meet held in New Haven. The State LL meet was holding the best track athletes in the class LL division in Connecticut. It was an honor to attend a meet with such outstanding athletes who were there for one purpose: To compete. The atmosphere of the facility was incredible. Right from the start of the first event, the 4x200 meter relay, the screaming and cheering began. As the girls began running, my 4x200 team and I were getting prepared as we would be running in about 10 minutes. Seeded at the 3rd best time in the meet, we learned that one of our best runners was not going to be able to compete, due to a pulled hamstring. The news worried us a bit, but we quickly retaliated and found our alternate to run in the relay. After those 10 suspenseful filled minutes, I got on the track and headed to the start line as I was the leading leg in the relay. I held the baton in my right hand and waiting for the starters commands. He said, “Runners to your mark”. I went down onto the track and got into my starting position, after a couple of seconds, the starter yelled “Set” and Bang! The gun was fired and I was on my way to the finish line. Quickly speeding ahead, I focused on my run and concentrated on what I had to do. The roaring of the crowd sounded like a blur to me as I zipped past the crowd. With only 100 meters left in my leg, I quickly accelerated and passed the runner to the right of me. As I came near the finish, I saw the next leg in our relay and handed the baton to him. My leg of the 4x200 race was finished, and now all I had to do was cheer on my teammates! As our 2nd leg of the relay came near the finish line, we cheered harder and harder. Our 3rd leg runner began running and received the baton from our 2nd leg runner. We were currently in 2nd place with only one leg left in the relay. The excitement and roaring of the room was incredible, as the final leg of the relay had begun running. Our fastest runner was quickly passed by another runner. With only about 50 meters left in the race, our runner gave it his all as he competed with a runner from Hamden to receive 2nd place. It turned out that Hamden received 2nd place and we got 3rd, but we were still happy with the way we competed in the race.
    With one race complete, I had 2 more to go. They meet continued on with cheering as the 4x800 relay, 55 meter dash, and 300 meter race all went on. As these events passed, I wondered what my friends were doing at the Science Fair. As I wondered more, I heard “First call for SMR Relay” and began to prep for my next race. The SMR or Sprint Medley Relay was a success too, as we finished in 2nd place. The day ended with the 4x400 meter relay. We were seeded to finish 3rd in this relay, but with an extremely small lead against New Britain. The race ended in a big disappointment for the whole team, as we placed 6th and did not make state opens. The average time for each leg was a 55 seconds, well above what each of the legs could have accomplished.
    All in all, it was a successful day that was filled with a bunch of fun and memories. This upcoming Saturday, I’ll be attending the State Open Meet for the 4x200 relay and SMR relay.
    2. The mock science fair helped me adjust some things on my poster. With the criticism and help of my friends I was able to construct a great poster. I added a more well thought out research question along with pie charts to better display the data.

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  60. 1. I felt that, overall, the science fair was a good learning experience. However, it was boring because there was so much downtime in between each presentation and before the speaker. It was pretty much what I expected.
    2. The judging process was very nerve-wracking both times, but the judges were kind and helpful, although they asked a lot of questions.
    3. The most helpful comments from the judges were the ones that made suggestions as to how I could improve my experiment. The least helpful were the ones that told me what I already knew, that there were too many variables in the experiment.
    4. The breakfast and lunch were surprisingly very good as well.
    5. The presentation by David Pogue was the best part of the fair by far. It was inspirational to hear about how he wasn’t a scientist, and he used this tactic to be able to teach other people who also weren’t scientists. He was continuously entertained with his wit and jokes.
    6. The Mock Science Fair helped me go over my information that was on my poster board and how to orally portray the data on it.
    7. I learned a few ways to improve my project, such as just continuing it for a longer period of time, and only doing it on certain letter days.
    8. I did have time to view a few other students projects, but I was quickly deterred from doing so when I was given a presentation and the student told me “You probably have no idea what any of these words mean,” which I found very rude.
    9. I did not talk to students from other schools.
    10. There really isn’t anything that would help students prepare any better for the science fair, other than making sure they have the information to answer any question the judges could ask.
    11. I would say the rating of my overall experience would be a 2.

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  61. 1. My overall experience at the SCISEF fair was a good one. I loved the Keynote speaker, David Pogue. He gave some inspiring accounts of how a “musical” type became so involved in the science community. The presentations were influential to say the least. There were many that could potentially save lives, like a wireless LVAD created by an Amity student that could potentially bring infection during surgery down 60%. The fair met my expectations, as it was a lot of work and stress, but was also a good time and a good way to learn. I anticipated the fair would be much more competitive, but I was given a warm welcome by the Newtown volunteers. For my first science fair, I was very pleased.

    2. The judging process was very nerve-racking for me, as it was my first science fair, however, they made some helpful comments that taught me a lot.

    3. The most helpful comment the judges made was to recommend that I go to the public library of science at Yale to look for studies previously done on my subject, as this would help me with my research. The least helpful were ones that simply offered small edits to my presentation.

    4. Delicious, I had the roast beef, and enjoyed it.

    5. I loved the Keynote presentation. It was humorous and taught me a lot about science, and how David Pogue became involved in the field.

    6.The mock fair gave me a decent idea of what it would be like to present in front of real judges, however, the first time presenting would have been tough either way.

    7. Yes, I learned several new places I can go or call that will further my research and understanding of my subject.

    8. Yes, I enjoyed other students’ projects, and learned a lot from them. I would have liked to have a little bit more time right away to see what the other projects looked like.

    8. I did not meet any students from other schools, but I did know a few previously.

    9. Nothing. I felt as ready as possible, and I feel as though lots of the preparation process needs to be done by students on their own.

    10. 4

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  62. Kathleen Walsh
    Mr. Lazzaro
    1) I thought the SCISEF Fair was a learning experience, but it was not my favorite experience. I loved looking at the other pasteboards but I hated all the down time. Specifically my presentations with the judges were 11 and 12:30 so I had limited time to eat. This science fair was exactly how I believed it would be. As a whole the science fair was nerve-racking but educational experience.

    2) The judging process was very nerve-racking. Honestly I thought the judges were very hard to my fellow freshman students and me, however they did give me other advice on my project.

    3) The most helpful comment was creating a “blind” test on the vitamin water and how to continue the project. One not so helpful advice was about sugar in the drinks, when I was testing another variable.

    4) I enjoyed the food, it wasn’t horrible but it wasn’t fantastic.

    5) I loved the keynote presentation by David Pogue. Before coming I watched some of his episodes like, making things wilder and smarter. I loved his experience he talked about and his behind the scenes videos. He even finished the presentation with a bang with his creative, original songs.

    6) The mock science fair was a way of practice presenting my project in the 5 to 8 minutes.

    7) I didn’t learn anything new but I did learn ways to improve my project. 1 main difference is more experiences, and I would love to continue with blind tests in the project.

    8) The person next to me did an elaborate project on stars. But, my biggest project I saw has Sara’s on her 1st place project.


    9) I did not talk to students in other schools.

    10) The snow did not help in our case, we came back to a snow day and our poster was due the next day. Next year I would recommend more practice and get our revised power points before the day of the presentation.


    11) My overall score on a scale to 1 to 5 would be a 2.

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  63. 1.My overall impression of the SCISEF fair was that it was a great experience. I really enjoyed being able to go around and see the different projects people did, and actually learn some results that could apply to my own life. It was much better than I had expected, and a lot less nerve racking. I had a great experience and was very glad I was able to go.
    2.The judging process was a bit scary at first, in all honesty, but it actually did get more comfortable as I continued my presentation. All my judges were very fair with very good tips, but in my first set of judges one of them kept looking at her watch, which added a bit to my nervousness.
    3.The most helpful comment from my judges was to add more statistical data, such as T-Scores, to my board. But the least helpful one was probably a comment to take away my purpose of finding better teaching methods because I think my results could actually help teachers
    4.The food was good for breakfast, with lots of different choices. There were bagels, croissants, and much more. I enjoyed it. However, lunch wasn’t quite up to the same level as breakfast. The wraps were okay, but it was kind of hard to tell what was in which sandwich, and they weren’t very appetizing. I think in the future, something as simple as pizza may be a better substitute.
    5.I really enjoyed the keynote presentation by David Pogue. I liked the fact that he wasn’t so smart half the room couldn’t understand what he as talking about, and he also interacted with the audience well. I loved the fact that he had a good amount of visuals with his presentation too.
    6.With the mock science fair, it helped me get a idea of what to say when presenting. I had a basic layout in my head, and was able to practice my introduction, which I didn’t know much about.
    7.I learned my project should have more statistical data with it, and also different ways I can make the listening and seeing tests more equal, such as randomizing the order so not everyone starts with the listening, making it harder for them to get in the rhythm of things. I also was told to possibly add a third category: hearing and seeing numbers. I think this would help make my results more reliable for my purposes.
    8.I went around and viewed some other projects, but a lot of them were too complicated for me to understand. Some of them were interesting though, such as the one about earthquakes that was near me, and I also like the project about the artificial heart type machine.
    9.I didn’t really talk to any students from other schools, mostly just Amity kids.
    10.I think to better prepare students for upcoming science fairs would be having a list of possible questions made so we know what we’re in for. I actually didn’t even realize we were asked questions, so possible giving a layout of the judging sessions would be good as well.
    11.My overall SCISEF experience was around 4, with only a few things that could’ve made it better!

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  64. 1. The SCISEF Fair was pretty interesting with tons of cool projects to look at such as the wireless LVAC. The keynote speaker, David Pogue, was pretty awesome. He was funny and shared cool stories about science, even though he was not a scientist. The fair met my expectations, but did not go any farther than what I expected. It was pretty much the same as I expected.
    2. The judging process was simple and the judges never interrupted me. The judges were fairly helpful.
    3. The most helpful comment was when the judge told me that I should look into rocket propulsion. The least helpful was when a judge said, “Good.”
    4. I did not have any food at the science fair.
    5. Yes, I did enjoy the keynote speaker. He was funny and told really cool stories about his science experiences, even though he was not a scientist. The flying robotic bird was the coolest.
    6. The Mock Science Fair was very helpful because I was able to practice my presentation before the real one.
    7. I learned that I should look more into the types of propulsion rather than the shape of the rocket if I want the rocket to fly higher.
    8. Yes I did. I saw one where someone made a wireless LVAC. It was pretty cool because all of the circuit boards and such can be seen and it looked impressive.
    9. No.
    10. π

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  65. 1 .My overall impression of the science fair was that it was a learning experiment. It was very interesting to see the different projects and learn from the older students. I enjoyed the presenting, and going around to experience the other projects. It was similar to the science fair my elementary school used to have, except, obviously the projects were much more complex.
    2. The judging experience was not as nerve-wrecking as I had anticipated. I was calm and very myself during the process. Most of the judges were fair and helpful, except one judge was very complicated and kept shooting questions at me that didn’t make sense.
    3.The most helpful comment from my judges was that for furthering my experience, I should probably pick another training tol, something that had more to do with lie detection. To be honest, I don’t really remember the least helpful comment from my judges.
    4.The breakfast was good, with many options and fresh food. The lunch I didn’t enjoy as much.
    5.To be honest, I didn’t really like the Keynote presentation by David Pogue. Since we had already seen several of his videos, I thought it was a tad boring. I also would’ve liked to seen more science-y experimental kind of presentation.
    6.The mock science fair helped me prepare for the fair because it was harder to present to your peers than to your judges. This made it easier to present in front of the judges.
    7.To be honest, I don’t think I learned anything new about my project. Mostly all of the judges’ comments I had already thought of.
    8.Yes, there was one project about chemicals suppressing cancer cells and growing cancer cells. I thought it was very interesting and complex. I also liked the project on the heart pump, I thought that was very innovative. The idea of students creating those projects was so abstruse to me.
    9.Yes, I talked to one girl from another school. We met when she was looking at my project and I started to explain it to her. She thought it was really interesting and I asked her what her project was. We went over to her board and it was about the galaxy. She was a junior and I forgot the school she goes to.
    10.Do more presenting in class. It’s a lifelong skill, so even if it’s not specifically for the science fair, it’ll still be really useful.
    11.About a 4


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  66. 1. Overall, the science fair was a good learning experience for me. It was interesting to see all of the other projects that students had put so much effort into. Although I didn’t really know what to expect from the fair given it was my first one, I was surprised that it wasn’t as boring as I had anticipated. The keynote speaker was very good and it was fun to eat lunch with everyone, although the food wasn’t all that good.
    2. The judges I had were very nice and very helpful. They asked many questions and I was somewhat pushed out of my comfort zone, but that was a good learning tool.
    3. One of my judges actually knew my dad because they both work as chemists at Unilever, and her feedback was the most helpful. She asked me questions about the other factors I could take into consideration for my project and overall was very supportive. The least helpful comment I think I got was when the judges would ask me my inspiration for my project. I guess it was alright; but there were more important things to cover about my experiment.
    4. The food at breakfast was excellent. The bagels and orange juice was good, but they ran out of cream cheese! The food at lunch didn’t exactly look appealing, so I was glad I had brought my own lunch.
    5. David Pogue, the keynote speaker, was very interesting. He certainly was not boring, and he was entertaining. His songs were funny, and I was glad that we had watched some of his videos prior to the fair.
    6. The mock science fair helped to calm my nerves prior to the fair and I was happy to practice my presentation before the fair. It was nice to get feedback before the fair too, so I knew what I did well and what I needed to improve on.
    7. I knew my project well enough for this fair, but I will have more participants before the next fair so my results may be slightly different by the next time.
    8. Although I didn’t have much time to view other projects, they all looked really intimidating! I can’t remember what specifically the project was about, but it had something to do with cocaine and I thought that was interesting. Dana Chung’s project also left a lasting impression on me because of the way she presented it and her board was really cool!
    9. I didn’t really talk with students from other schools, but I did talk with other kids from Amity taking science research, advanced and year one, who weren’t in my class. I was with my friends for most for the fair though.
    10. I think we should conduct more mock science fairs, maybe with everyone in science research. I have an all year one class, and I think the advice of advanced students could be particularly beneficial.
    11. SCISEF left a lasting impression on me, and was a great learning tool. Overall, I’d say my overall experience was a 4.

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  67. 1. Overall, the science fair was a rather interesting beginning to the experience of future science fairs. As a freshman newcomer, the complexity and depth of the projects surrounding me intimidated me to an extent. However, the down time that I had available and the experience to learn new things from the science projects around me was rather enjoyable, and proved to be a better experience than I had anticipated.
    2. To my surprise, presenting my project to the judges was actually somewhat fun and helpful to hear the feedback. Most of my judges treated me with astounding respect despite the simplicity of my project.
    3. There wasn’t any single comment that was most helpful from the judges, but the feedback that told me what I should have done differently or improved in my experiment stood out to me the most. Being exposed to flaws is a learning experience and aids in making future projects much better. Also, it allows me to keep those same thoughts in my mind for the designing process of future projects.
    4. The food between the two lunch waves was probably the worst and best part of the science fair. The breakfast was most certainly the best part of the science fair. The delicacies were scrumptious, and being able to start my day off like that was a nice change to my usual routine. On the other hand, the lunch food wasn’t up to par considering the choices laid out during breakfast. The wraps were too big to start off,and I expected more variety in the choices I had.
    5. David Pogue’s NOVA presentation was definitely one of the highlights of the fair. Most science presentations that I’ve gone to in my life have been rather bland and overall uninteresting, but David Pogue introduced a new blend of comedy and technology, which was great to take in. All his jokes hit spot on with the crowd, and it showed me that science researchers can have a shining personality.
    6. The Mock Science Fair was overall unhelpful to me. Most of the other members in my group still had work to complete, so I never actually was able to present. However, I was able to practice with my parents at home, which prepared me exceptionally well.
    7. I was exposed to many new flaws within my project. Obviously, the judges are all qualified scientists and know what they’re talking about, so their professional feedback told me many new things that I could keep in mind for the future. For example, there were many things about the brain that I had not known, and the brain will probably be the figure for my future studies.
    8. I had overwhelming quantities of time to view other students’ projects. Most were rather intimidating, but I did find them interesting as well. The Adderall: The New Cocaine? project appealed to me the most. Generally, I view Cocaine as a bad thing, and it stuck in my mind that someone would research about it.
    9. Only one student said that me and Rohan were matching, which was the extent of communication beyond our school.
    10. Obviously, the snow storm that came before the science fair wasn’t beneficial at all to anyone, so more preparation for a snow storm and more practice presentations could be best for students to perform optimally.
    11. Overall, I would rate it a 4.

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  68. 1.I enjoyed the fact that there were many other exhibitors and different posters at the fair. I got to examine each poster and see what kind of projects everyone did. The fair did meet my expectations. Honestly, the arrangement of the exhibitors and their posters within the gymnasium was different than how I anticipated.
    2.The judging process was great. At first, I was very nervous and I practiced my presentation for some time. But when they came, my nervousness melted away and the judges did not harshly criticize me, as that is what I thought in my head. Also, I liked that we got an approximate time. I know the judges could have come earlier or later, but it got me ready to expect the judges. The only complaint is that there was a very, very long wait time. I know this is because there are many science fair participants, but we should have had a break room or at least somewhere to sit down.
    3.The most helpful comment from the judges was that I should include some statistics onto my poster. I do not remember the least helpful comment from the judges. All of my judges were helpful and very nice.
    4.I thoroughly enjoyed the breakfast. I already ate breakfast before I came to the fair, however the breakfast was really enjoyable. On the other hand, I extremely disliked the lunch. I had the roast beef wrap, and it was very dry. It was not good.
    5.I loved the Keynote presentation by David Pogue! At first, I did not catch on to the fact that he was the host of “Making Stuff.” However, he later showed “Making Stuff” episodes and I made the connection. He was extremely funny and was very charismatic. I found interesting that he majored in music, but he is now a host of a scientific show. At the end of his presentation, he played a song of the piano and sang, which was good.
    6.The Mock Science Fair helped me to go over and think more about what I was going to say. However, it did not help me anticipate how talking to the judges would be. This is because at the Mock Science Fair, I was talking to a friend. In the real SCISEF science fair, I talked to older, professional judges who were, technically, strangers.
    7.For the next fair, I can definitely gather more participants. With more participants, my data might be a little more accurate than the data I have now. I can also add some statistics and extend a little bit of my knowledge of neurons in the brain.
    8.I had a lot of time to view other students’ projects. The one about an artificial heart was interesting.
    9.I talked to two other students in the science fair. One of the students was the exhibitor standing next to me. Her name was Kristen, and she briefly explained her poster to me. It was very interesting and highly creative. She also won an award at the award ceremony. The other girl I talked to was a girl near my poster. She asked me to explain it, so I did and she left, complementing me.
    10.I am not too sure what we can do next time to better improve science fairs.
    11. 4. Overall, I enjoyed the science fair. I liked speaking to the judges because they were good-natured and nice. I also liked seeing other students’ projects and eating the breakfast. I just did not enjoy the lunch and the long wait time.

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  69. SCSEF Blog

    1. What was your overall impression of the SCISEF Fair? Specifically, what things did you enjoy about the fair? Did the fair meet your expectations? In what ways was it similar or different to what you anticipated or experienced in the past?

    Overall, I enjoyed SCSEF this year. This was my first time in a school other than Amity; Newtown did a great job hosting the fair. The volunteer staff were very helpful (they helped me find a three hole punch). There were many judges, which helped the entire judging process take a reasonable amount of time, especially in comparison to my experience at I-SWEEEP and CSEF. The fair was very similar to my past SCISEF experiences. The only major changes were the venue and the keynote speaker, both changes of which I liked.

    2. What was the judging process like? Were the judges fair and helpful?

    The judging process was as good as it could possibly be, given the circumstances. With so many students, it’s hard to make a perfectly objective judging process. Given this, my judges were very good. They asked appropriate questions that actually helped my overall presentation. They asked questions regarding both the medical and engineering aspects of my project.

    3. What was the most helpful comment from the Judges? Least helpful?

    The most helpful comment came from a judge who discussed sepsis as its risks. Entering the fair, I only had a minor understanding of this disease. The least helpful was from a judge who refused to accept that continuous heart pumps are used and have been proven to work.

    4. How was the food (breakfast and lunch)?

    The breakfast was great, but the lunch was mediocre. The rolls that were provided were cold and did not taste good. I liked the orange juice.

    5. Did you enjoy the Keynote presentation by David Pogue? Explain.

    I enjoyed it a lot! David Pogue is a great, famous, speaker. He shared many interesting and extreeme experiences with science. The presentation was really about his life, and his unusual time with with PBNC. I However, this speech did not end with any lessons to learn, like most presentations. I did like the song!

    6. In what way(s) do you think the Mock Science Fair helped prepare you for the fair?

    The mock science fair helped me practice my presentation. Before the mock fair, I did not have my entire presentation figured out. After presenting for a few people at the mock fair, I received very helpful comments. For example, I learned to focus more on the importance of my project than the specifications of my design.

    7. Did you learn anything new about your project? If so, what can you do to improve it for the next fair?

    Yes, I did. I learned a lot about sepsis, which can be incorporated into my presentation. This is especially helpful for JSHS, where I have a longer period of time to present. I will be reprinting my poster to include more on this disease. Also, I will change up the results section of my project to make it easier to understand and appreciate.

    8. Did you have time to view other student projects? Which project(s) left a lasting impression? why?

    I had a little time to look at the other projects. I was particularly interested in a piezo circuit design that can be used to calculate seismic pressures for detecting earthquakes. The project incorporated both electronics and programing.

    8. Did you talk to students from other schools? Explain.

    No. The projects around me were all from Amity, unfortunately. However, I did meet people from our own school who I did not know before.

    9. What can we do to better prepare students for upcoming science fairs, if anything?

    I thought preparation was very thorough. Most preparation must be done independently, just by the nature of the independent projects.

    10. Overall on a scale of 1 (terrible) to 5 (amazing) --> How enjoyable was your SCSEF experience?

    4

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  70. By Olivia Castro
    1. My overall impression of the science fair was that it’s was a very serious event yet I was able to still have fun and enjoy it. I really enjoyed the guest speaker at the fair. David Pogue was very a very good speaker and had a lot of cool things to show us (though he was a little inappropriate towards the beginning). The fair actually went above and beyond my expectations because I actually thought that it was going to be a little less formal and organized. When I walked up to my station I was surprised to see the magnetic badge, a paper with my entire schedule, an introduction letter, and a booklet of everyone’s abstracts. It was very very different than what I anticipated but for the better.
    2. The judging process was very nerve racking because my first judging was at 11:30 and they didn’t show up until 12:10. Since this was my first judging I was nervous all ready and them being late didn’t help because I was standing there with complete anxiety not knowing when my judges were coming. Then when judges finally came, the first man was a little scary, I asked if they wanted to look over my poster before I began and he was quite snippy and told me to start. Then, a minute into my presentation he whips out his phone and starts timing me. So that gets me nervous as well. Once I finished my presentation he started questioning my entire project and trying to find anyway to trip me up, so that wasn’t the best judging experience. My next judging experience went well though because all three of the judges were very comedic and light hearted. I think my second round of judges was very helpful because they actually had intelligent meaningful suggestions unlike the other judge who just wanted to degrade my project.
    3. The most helpful comment I got for my judges was probably that I should have used a control group. I think that would have been very helpful. The least helpful comment I got was my poster was a little too pink.
    4. The food there was good. I think the food for breakfast was better than the food for lunch though. The lunch I had was good but most people didn’t like the wraps they choose (mostly because of the cheese).
    5. I really enjoyed the keynote presentation from David Pogue (although I think he forgot his audience). It was very good although it felt a little drawn out because we had seen his show which is what he based his presentation on.
    6. I think the mock science fair was good practice for me but it really didn’t prepare me for actually presenting because I knew who I was presenting to whereas I didn’t know my judges .
    7. I think that I should complete a control group for my project and add it in, just to further backup my research.
    8. I didn’t really have time to view other student’s projects but I did see the group next to me. Their project was on the mislabeling of meats, they used some interesting techniques in their study. They also had very convincing results.
    9. I didn’t talk to any students from other schools. Everyone around me was very competitive and antisocial
    10. I would suggest that students start their binders early on or just keep a really organized folder because I found that it took me a while to find all my materials. I would also suggest that students have more of a conversation with the judges then just present to them I think it helped me a lot to do that.
    11. 3

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  71. 1. Overall, I had a great time at the SCISEF fair. I enjoyed the fact that I got to go around and see other projects and meet new people. The fair did meet my expectations for the most part. It was different than the past because there was a longer waiting time for the judges.
    2. The judging process was more organized than last year. The judges came much earlier, so I did not have to wait for too long. The judges were also fair and helpful. They offered some great suggestions.

    3. The most helpful comment from the judges was about how I could encounter my sources of error and another approach to effectively collecting data. I did not receive any unhelpful comments.

    4. The food was not good. It was not to my liking. There was a lack of choice when it came to drinks.

    5. I enjoyed the Keynote presentation by David Pogue because he was very entertaining and knew how to present in a way that would keep the audience interested. His puns were great as usual and his song at the end was a great way to conclude his presentation. I was very happy to meet him.

    6. The Mock Science Fair helped me prepare for the fair because it was a small-scaled version of SCISEF in terms of how posters were displayed and people walked around hearing one another’s presentations and “judging” them. I got feedback on things I needed to change and/or work on such as presenting and the setup of my poster.

    7. I did not actually learn something new about my project. However, the judges asked me questions and offered suggestions such as how I could gather participants or look at variables that may have affected my results.
    8. I had some time to view other student projects. There were quite a few impressive projects that were professionally done or very neat and visually appealing. I remember one poster that had a very bright and vibrant picture of some rainbow colored organism for its background, which captured my eye.

    8. Yes, I talked to the two students that were directly on my right and left. It was their very first fair, and they were a little nervous. They were very nice, and I just reassured them that judging is not as scary as it might seem.

    9. The best way to prepare students for upcoming science fairs would definitely be to practice presentations. Then they will have less tension and more confidence in what they are saying.
    10. 4

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  72. Sarah S.

    Mr. Lazzaro, Period 1

    1. Overall, I enjoyed the SCISEF Fair. I felt that the fair was extremely well organized, and I felt that time was used effectively. I appreciated the fair’s effort to count up the ballots quickly and present the awards that same day. It was much more convenient than having to return to the fair another day for an awards ceremony. The fair exceeded my expectations in terms of quality. It was a little different than what I had anticipated. It felt very laid back and relaxed, and I had expected an uptight, stressful environment.
    2. The judging process was a much more comfortable experience than what I expected. The judges were overall very fair and helpful. Many of my judges pointed out possible improvements that I could make to improve my project.
    3. The most helpful comment from the judges that I received came from a judge during my first round. She noticed that my graphs were not the easiest to understand, and she explained an alternative way to effectively represent my data. I don’t remember the least helpful comment.
    4. The breakfast was very good. I enjoyed the bagels and orange juice. However, I was not as pleased with the lunch. I was looking for a sandwich without cheese on it to eat, and I saw that the turkey sandwiches were in two different trays. One tray was labeled, Turkey with American, and the other tray was simply labeled, Turkey. I assumed that the sandwiches in the tray that was just labeled, Turkey, would not have cheese on it. But it had warm, gooey cheese on it that would not peel off of the wrap or meat. I could not eat my sandwich.
    5. I thoroughly enjoyed the keynote presentation by David Pogue. I felt that he incorporated interesting scientific innovations into a presentation with a good touch of comedy. I also enjoyed the fact that he stressed so much that he was never originally a scientist and instead majored in music. Although he is still not a stereotypical scientist, he made it seem less daunting and more achievable for someone to enter the field of science.
    6. I think the mock science fair helped a lot while preparing for the science fair. Personally, it helped me to realize that my presentation was much too long. My classmates helped me shorten my presentation by pointing out unnecessary points that I did not need to over discuss.
    7. I learned from one of my judge's suggestions how to improve some of the graphs on my board and questions on my survey. The judge explained how I should change the wording on a few of my question to stay more consistent. She explained how I could then more easily analyze and graph my data. I will be sure to take this advice into consideration when making surveys and questionnaires in the future.
    8. Unfortunately, I did not get to thoroughly look at any other student's projects. However, I did quietly eavesdrop on one participant presenting her project to judges about two projects down from my own. I was extremely interested in hers as she used a robot NAO to help keep learning in the classroom interesting by having the robot read a story.
    8. I did not get a chance to talk to students from other schools. I tried to talk to one presenter, who I mentioned above, however I found that our judging schedules conflicted and that by the time I was finished presenting she had left for lunch. I had wanted to talk to her about her use of the NAO robot in classrooms as I had done a similar project this previous year. I would have liked to hear more about her experience programming the robot, and see if there were any similarities with my experience.
    9. Overall, I felt that the students within my class were pretty well prepared for the fair. However, I felt that an earlier start or earlier date of approval for each project would have been more desirable. January was a fairly stressful month to finish up the details of our projects. It would have been nicer to get started sooner.
    10. I would overall rate my experience at SCISEF a 4.

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  73. At SCSEF, my overall impression was good; however it did not seem as busy as the past two years at our school. I did feel that the judging process was smoother than expected and it the amount of space was appreciated. The judges were not very helpful but seemed intrigued by my study and amused by my presentation. It was a pleasant experience and they asked questions that I could answer quickly and sufficiently. One judge did ask a question about the relationship of the ketamine dosing and the state of the rat (how much is an overdose) that I did not know the answer to. This was probably the best “advice” I was given. I found the food terrible. Breakfast was better than lunch, however I did not eat the breakfast therefore I was stuck with some weird nut protein bar in my bag for my meal. The wraps were questionable and when looking inside; scary. I thoroughly enjoyed David Pogue speaking. I thought it was interesting and very amusing; however the speaker from freshman year, the bat guy, is still the best. I believe the mock science fair was helpful in that it made me more comfortable speaking to others about my project and get most of the kinks out of the presentation. At the next science fair I plan on being clearer on the purpose of my study. I did speak to students from other schools. One girl asked me for advice since it was her first science fair. The other girl and I talked about our projects and other science fair experience together. To help prepare students, we need to keep doing the mock science fair/round robin. Ms. Day, you always do a fabulous job at preparing us. I would say my SCSEF experience was a solid 3, it was not terrible but it was not my best either.

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  74. 1.) The SCISEF fair was a very enjoyable experience.The judges gave constructive criticism when needed and the keynote speaker was inspiring and captivating. The food was delicious and the overall structure of the fair was efficient for the presenters. My expectations for the fair did not match what I thought. The fair was more casual while I thought it would be more strict and structured. This is my first experience with participating in a science fair.

    2.) The judging process was more casual than expected. The judges gave constructive criticism when needed and also gave compliments when necessary. The judges were fair and helpful while grading my presentation. Now, I will be more prepared for future science fairs and improve my skills as a scientist.

    3.) The most helpful comment made by the judges was to recruit more participants and add a survey after the test to record data. This will control the variables in my experiment. The least helpful comment made by the judges was about presenting research on my tri-fold.

    4.) The breakfast at the science fair was very good, but the turkey sandwich tasted like airline food that you get out of a plastic wrapper.

    5.) The keynote speaker was very entertaining as well as informative. He related complex science to everyday life and included comedy into his forum to energize the audience.

    6.) The mock science fair helped me in the actual science fair because I could recite my presentation in front of an audience. I became more confident and fluent in my presentation.

    7.) I learned that I could recruit more participants and also add a survey after the test to record extra data. This will solidify my data collected.

    8.) I did have time to observe other students’ projects while at the science fair. One project that had a lasting impression on me was about how to predict where planets will be in the universe by observing binary star systems. The student’s graph was very confusing but had immense data.

    9.) I talked to another student from a different school because she had a similar project as mine. It was the effect of sleep deprivation on academic success.

    10.) To improve the experience for next year, it would help to start the research project much earlier in advance. We had ample time in the first marking period and then were rushed in the second marking period.

    11.) 4.15

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  75. 8. I did have time to look at some other projects. They were all very interesting. Specifically, the one about semantic searches and ontology by the David Wang himself. This one had a last impression because I found it very interesting.
    9. Unfortunately I didn't talk to students from other schools.
    10. I felt like we were well prepared for this science fair. If anything, I think more round robin presenting might be beneficial. I found that it replicated the science fair environment fairly well because there were people presenting around you like the actual fair. It is hard to present when there is so much other talking, so I think it is good that we did this before the fair.
    11. I'd give my experience a 4 because it was good but I don't think it would be impossible for it to be better.

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  76. 1. Overall, I thought the fair was good and enjoyable. I enjoyed the judging process, as they all seemed engaged and very respectful. I also enjoyed the keynote speaker. He was quite entertaining and interesting to hear speak. The fair met my expectations, as I thought it was better than the last year's. I found this keynote speaker to be more interesting to hear than David Pogue last year. Also, the food this year was better in my opinion. Other than these two aspects, the fair was similar from what I can remember about last year.
    2. For me, the judging process was very good. In this first round of judging, the judges asked questions that we hadn't answered in the presentation. I feel like we gave good responses. In the second judging, we made to sure to hit on those questions while presenting, so there were less questions that go around. The second round of judges came about half an hour earlier than we thought they would, so that caught us a bit off guard but it ended up ok. The judges were very fair as they gave us time to finish answering their question before asking another. All the judges seemed to be fairly engaged, although at some points it seemed like they lost focus.
    3. The judges didn't give us many suggestions that I can remember. Both sets of judges asked about the significance/implications of the project and where we got the idea to use the McGurk effect. These were good questions that I think were helpful to our presentation. There weren't any bad questions that I can remember, but the least helpful one to George and me was if they could look at our binder.
    4. I thought the food was good--better than previous years. I enjoyed the muffins especially.
    5. I did enjoy the keynote speaker. I found his story very interesting. He compared his life journey to the tacking of sailboat, which I thought was very interesting and unique. I found it very interesting to hear where he started his life, and where he has gone through out it. Also, I found his simplistic approach to science quite different. It seems to me like he essentially just looked around (at the penguins), asked questions, and then got very scientific in trying to answer them. I think this method of forming research questions is very interesting and not a method that we are normally exposed to.
    6. I found the presentations in class to be more helpful than the actual Mock Science Fair because in class it seemed like we were more focused on actually presenting. In the Mock Science Fair, I think people were less focused on hearing presentations because of all of the other posters that they could look at around them. I presented to Mr. Musco which I don't think was very helpful for Saturday. This may have been the case because Mr. Musco found fault in the title of our project, so I spent most of the time defending that it was an appropriate title. I think this could have been a good exercise for me if there actually was something wrong with the title, but the judges did not have a problem with it so I think defending it to Mr. Musco may have been a waste of time. With that said, I think the Mock Science Fair was very good for motivating me to make the poster.
    7. The judges pointed out some ideas for future related projects, such as looking at other groups to see how they respond when presented with the McGurk effect. For example, they wondered how people with seeing/hearing disabilities (or a background of such) would affect their susceptibility. These are interesting things to think about. The judges didn't give much advice on how to improve our project, so I look forward to seeing their scoring sheets and written feedback.

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